Strava users faking workouts with ‘mules’ to impress others

In a world where everything can be shared with people online, some Strava users fake their workouts to impress followers.

Strava is an app that tracks runs and bike rides, with statistics available once the workout has been completed including distance traveled, average pace, elapsed time, elevation gain, calories, and average heart rate. The workouts can be made visible to all users.

While the app is intended to track your progress, some users have drafted ‘Strava mules’. The user will then share the data from the run completed by somebody else and will pass it off as their own.

A man in Indonesia, called Wahyu Wicaksono, has 76 regular customers. He told the UK’s ITV News that he does “one or two runs per day” on average, depending on the length of the run requested.

The runner advertises his services through social media and once a customer signs up, he logs into their Strava account to complete the exercise. The man charges 14,000 Indonesian Rupiah, which is around 90 cents.

“Running has been my hobby since childhood, and I often take part in running championships,” he said to ITV News, “I can earn a good amount of money from being a Strava jockey, so I thought, why not?”

Some Strava users are hiring “mules” to log workouts for them, boosting their kudos on the fitness app. Self-confessed Strava mule @Veljko went viral on TikTok sharing how he trains on clients’ behalf. Although Strava warns that mules violate their terms of service and will be suspended, this trend highlights a shift from working out for health and wellbeing to online validation