Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Caroline & Victor McCandless & Oliveira. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Caroline & Victor , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
We founded Concentric Jiu Jitsu Fitness Wellness with a holistic and authentic approach in mind. This is where we diverge most from the fitness and martial arts industry standard, which too often preys on people who feel uneducated or overwhelmed about their health. That confusion can make people vulnerable to being taken advantage of or misled.
Between the two of us, Victor and I have been in and out of the fitness, martial arts, yoga, and wellness scenes for the last 15 years or so. In that time, we’ve learned to distinguish between what’s “the real deal” and what’s just fluff or for show when it comes to true health and training. A big priority for us—then and now—is offering the real deal and checking as many of the boxes as possible that make positive transformation inevitable for the average person.
Some of those boxes include:
Nutrition (including the emotional side and practical habits)
Inner wellness through meditation and mind-body courses
Restorative practices and guest workshops like mobility and myofascial release
A sense of community through martial arts and social events
And always bringing an element of fun and play into everything we do
As far as we know, we’re the only gym in San Diego that combines Jiu Jitsu, programmed functional fitness training, and wellness in one place.
At the most basic level, one major thing that sets us apart from many group fitness facilities is that we can actually prescribe what we believe to be the best possible training for each member—and give them the personalized attention they need. Our training groups are intentionally small (just six people), and we follow a structured program. That means there’s a plan with clear goals, each session builds on the last, and every member works with personalized weights and adjustments.
With a program like this, our members finally start seeing progress—something that just isn’t possible with random workouts. At many popular group gyms, the format looks more like this: a room of 20+ people doing a collection of random movements in 45-second intervals, grabbing whatever weights are available, and trying to copy what others are doing. This kind of workout might leave you sweaty and out of breath—but just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s productive.
There’s also no realistic way to monitor the form of 20+ people or to create an environment where members can safely push their limits and progress from where they are—which is the only way to improve in fitness.
In terms of Jiu Jitsu, there are now many large and small academies out there, and you can find whatever culture or “flavor” you’re drawn to, which is pretty cool. But again, our holistic approach stands out. Most academies don’t (or can’t) offer integrated fitness and wellness. And while there’s plenty of Jiu Jitsu available, there’s often little to no instruction on how to train this amazing combat sport with longevity and durability in mind.
At Concentric, we have white belts and black belts alike who train fitness with us so they can better enjoy their Jiu Jitsu—and that same longevity applies to members who play soccer, cycle, surf, or just want to move well as they age. Our holistic model helps people do what they love for longer, whether it’s competitive sport or simply getting up and around with ease in everyday life.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Concentric Jiu Jitsu Fitness Wellness is a local, couple-owned training center that helps people positively transform their lives through jiu jitsu, fitness, and wellness. We offer jiu jitsu classes for adults, kids, and women which include techniques for self-defense and sport. We offer over 15 semi-private (6 people maximum) functional fitness sessions every week plus a Saturday interval training. Fitness members have personalized programming and movements can be adjusted to their level. It’s more like a large group personal training. We will be bringing our monthly meditation back in the future, with potentially adding in yoga.
On top of our group training, we offer private coaching and instruction in fitness, jiu jitsu, nutrition, sports preparation, and personal wellness. We bring in outside experts for fun and informative workshops, like the Wim Hof breathwork and ice bath experience with Miles Lukas or the Epigenetics and Somatic Healing workshop with Dr. Kulvi Kaur. We regularly offer our own Women’s Self-Defense workshop with basic jiu jitsu techniques for situations common to the female experience.
One of the main things we are most proud of is all the ways we have watched our members and clients transform through their experiences at Concentric. Some memorable transformations we’ve witnessed in our community:
– multiple clients’ weight loss from 30-100lbs, often they are able to get off certain medications, and increasing their enjoyment of life and their families
– the disappearance of lingering low back pain for multiple fitness members as they gain strength
– a jiu jitsu student defending herself against a bully at school
– an adult jiu jitsu member finding herself walking in the world with more confidence
– quiet men, both young and old, becoming more certain of themselves on and off the mat
– a young jiu jitsu student’s night terrors going away after learning self-defense
We are community and family focused at Concentric Jiu Jitsu Fitness Wellness. We may be the only training facility that can offer adult semi-private functional fitness training in the same hour as kids jiu jitsu, so we encourage the whole family to train. We even have many couples and family members that train together. The dream is everyone goes home sweaty and happy, feeling better than when they walked in. We hope to make our gym a place where people want to bring their loved ones and also a place where they can find a community of like-minded positive people. This great environment we’ve created is something we are proud of and cherish.
About the founders and owners:
Victor, co-owner, is a fitness coach, Brazillian Jiu Jitsu black belt, and the program coordinator for fitness and jiu jitsu at Concentric Jiu Jitsu Fitness Wellness. Victor grew up in Brazil and, when soccer didn’t work out, he was brought into the world of bodybuilding as a teenager by some friends. He studied Physical Education and began coaching clients early on. Despite building muscle and being in the gym regularly, Victor still felt there was something missing and having muscles wasn’t enough. He wanted to feel capable and confident. A friend invited Victor to Jiu Jitsu and it was the remedy he was seeking. Jiu Jitsu gave Victor clarity and a focus in his life. It pulled him out of a downward spiral and brought him into a better lifestyle. When the invitation to come to San Diego, a mecca of Jiu Jitsu, arrived in 2013, he took it and started his life over at 23 years old in a new land with a new language.
Caroline, co-owner, is a nutrition and fitness coach and the wellness program coordinator at Concentric Jiu Jitsu Fitness Wellness. Caroline grew up in San Diego and was always into sports and challenging herself physically. in 2007, she took a weightlifting class in high school which opened up with world of weights to her. Despite being fairly active, lifting weights and surfing, she began using food and eating as a coping mechanism and to numb throughout college. Her weight ballooned and she lived with constant discomfort and obsession with her body. After finally having enough of the emotional turmoil, she abandoned the calorie counting and the crash dieting and just focused on feeling better inside, trusting that the outside would figure itself out or at least she would feel better about it at some point. And that’s exactly what happened. Within 18 months, she had lost 60 pounds without any dieting besides from eating mindfully and moving consistently in ways that felt good, all while building better emotional tools and awareness.
Victor’s and Caroline’s paths crossed in 2016 by a serious of synchronistic events. They connected on fitness and martial arts, surfing and the beach, and an interest in personal growth and development. After dating and moving in together, they started offering a Saturday outdoor bootcamp in a local park. Eventually, they were able to rent a strip of fitness space in the jiu jitsu gym where they trained. In 2020, they shared space in a private fitness studio with another fitness trainer. In the fall of 2023, they finally found their dream studio and were able to open with jiu jitsu, fitness, and wellness all in one space at last.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
We are in a moment of resilience right now. In the last year and a half, we expanded from subleasing part of an 1800 sq ft facility with another trainer to finding our own 3000 sq ft space. We initially shared the new studio with a trainer subleasing part of our space, which helped a lot in our transition and the expansion. Then our subleasor left for their own expansion right before our slower season. We looked at the numbers and we were teetering on the edge of being able to make it without another subleasor. The dream is to have the space entirely for our own purposes. We are so close. So we took that gamble. We are absolutely in love with what we do and what we have created but we are in a place right now where every month feels like a test of resilience. How badly do you want it? How far are you willing to go? When it feels like the walls are closing in, we find discipline often isn’t enough. It helps to connect to your purpose and your devotion to that purpose. That said, we have been resilient since we started training people one day a week in the park. We’ve had a million opportunities to give up between then and now and we never did. At this point finally in our dream studio, we didn’t come this far to only come this far. We take this discomfort as a forced growth as we quickly acquire skills and try things we’ve never done before to make it through this period. Because as long as we keep moving forward, we know this time will pass.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
A few books specific to gyms:
– Best Known Dojo by Cris Rodriguez
– Ignite the Fire by Jonathan Goodman
Gym Launch, Studio Grow, and Kovar Systems all have great online resources for gym marketing. Prior to having our own place, Caroline managed a newly opened jiu jitsu gym where she learned from the hired marketing company how to set up a marketing system. This greatly impacted our ability to be able to create a similar system for ourselves and the customer journey.
In terms of management and administrative work, there is a book called Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee which helps cut through the “busy work” and be more streamlined. Caroline and Victor both like Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale’s written and audio recordings for motivation and focus.
Other than that, watching people’s success stories and listening to podcasts with all flavors of entrepreneurs serves as inspiration and getting new information for everything from management to finances to customer service.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://concentricjjfit.com/
- Instagram: @concentricjjfit
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@concentricjjfit
