Switching from PushPress to OLM: a martial arts academy migration guide

Why academies switch from PushPress

PushPress is structurally a CrossFit-derived platform that's been generalized for other gym categories. It does most things well — class scheduling, billing, kiosk check-in, basic reporting. The places martial arts academies tend to hit gaps: belt tracking that requires custom fields, no native portable rank history across academies, per-member subscription pricing that scales linearly with roster, and weak handling of multi-discipline athletes.

Most academies switching from PushPress to OLM do so for one of three reasons: the per-member subscription cost grew uncomfortable as the roster crossed 150+ members; they wanted native multi-discipline rank tracking instead of custom-field workarounds; or they wanted Stripe Connect Standard accounts so the gym is the merchant of record rather than the platform.

Week 1: setup and Stripe Connect

PushPress uses a Stripe Connect model — your Stripe account is connected to the platform and processes member payments. The good news: you don't need to set up a new Stripe account to switch to OLM. You disconnect from PushPress and reconnect the same Stripe account to OLM via OLM's Stripe Connect onboarding flow.

Day 1 to 2 is OLM signup, Stripe Connect reconnection, and basic org setup (locations, timezone, branding). Day 3 to 5 is exporting your member roster from PushPress as CSV and importing into OLM. PushPress's member export includes the fields OLM needs (name, email, phone, active subscription, primary contact); custom fields you may have used for belts come over as text and need cleanup in OLM's user_ranks table.

Week 2: side-by-side run

Like any software switch, don't cut over on day 1 of week 2. Run both for 7 days. Use OLM as the system of record for new sign-ups, drop-ins, and check-ins; let PushPress continue handling existing roster billing for one more cycle.

Week 2 is for testing kiosk check-in flow, member experience signing up via the OLM app (vs PushPress's), waiver signature flow, and confirmation that the recurring billing setup in OLM matches what PushPress was doing. Members will tell you within 48 hours if anything looks different — usually the differences are positive (faster check-in, cleaner mobile experience) but occasionally you'll find a workflow gap to fix.

Week 3: cut over billing

On the first of the month after week 2, switch billing over. Cancel the next PushPress billing cycle, import the active subscriptions into OLM via the migration tool, and let OLM's first billing run handle the next month's charges.

PushPress-specific gotcha: PushPress sometimes runs billing on the day-of-signup-anniversary rather than month-start. If your members are billed throughout the month rather than all on the 1st, OLM can match this — set each subscription's billing anchor to the original PushPress signup date. Otherwise, members will get billed twice in a transitional month.

Same dunning reality as any switch: 2 to 5% of cards will need re-authorization. Stripe's dunning sequence handles most automatically; the rest you'll get email notifications for. Plan to spend an hour on the day-of-billing watching the dashboard.

Week 4: belts, ranks, and waivers

Belt tracking is the most manual part of any martial arts software migration. If you used PushPress custom fields for rank, those values are in your CSV export. Bulk-update OLM's user_ranks for each member to match their existing belt and stripe count.

OLM tracks rank per discipline natively. If you have multi-discipline members (BJJ + Muay Thai + Judo), you'll set their ranks separately for each discipline rather than using a single 'rank' field. This unlocks the portable belt history feature — members who later move to another OLM academy carry their rank history with them.

Waivers signed in PushPress don't migrate as e-signed PDFs (PushPress stores them in its own format). Most academies re-prompt all members to sign the OLM waiver in week 4 — takes 30 seconds per member from the app, and gives you a clean SHA-256-audited record from day one.

PushPress-specific quirks to plan for

• PushPress doesn't auto-archive class sessions — your class_template/session relationship in OLM is structurally different (templates auto-generate sessions for the next 7 days nightly)
• PushPress 'Members at Risk' uses different logic than OLM's AI Monitor — the at-risk lists won't translate directly; let OLM's AI Monitor build its baseline over the first 30 days
• PushPress add-on fees (SMS, marketing automation) are per-member; OLM bundles SMS into the per-transaction model — read your latest PushPress invoice carefully to understand what you're actually paying for
• PushPress's reporting categories don't map 1:1 to OLM's reports tab — most reports have an OLM equivalent but the column names and filter shapes differ

What you should expect to lose

PushPress's CrossFit-derived programming features (WOD library, benchmark workout tracking, leaderboards) don't exist in OLM. If you were using these for a CrossFit-adjacent program at your academy, you'll need an alternative — either a separate tool or building the workflow into OLM's training journal feature.

PushPress's third-party integrations (Zapier, certain marketing tools) have a wider catalog than OLM's. OLM's integration list is intentionally narrower in 2026; if a specific integration is core to your operation, check OLM's list before committing.

What you should expect to gain

Native per-discipline rank tracking with portable history. Member belt records that travel with them between OLM academies. Stripe Connect Standard so you own the merchant relationship rather than the platform. No monthly subscription — pay only on member transactions, which usually represents meaningful savings versus PushPress's per-member tiers at 100+ member academies.

AI Monitor with 14-day-early churn alerts and recommended actions. The training journal with 8-axis progression tracking. White-labeled member app. Rich seminar handling with the 3% flat fee model.