About Persist
Built by people who show up.
A Doctor of Physical Therapy and a career firefighter opened a movement clinic in Carmel Mountain Ranch because the places around them kept selling access and calling it coaching. Persist is the other thing: physical capacity treated like a vital sign, for the whole family, under one roof.
What we believe
Physical capacity is the new vital sign.
Strength, mobility, conditioning, and recovery all show up in real life — at work, at home, and as you age. Our assessment model borrows from sport, the fire service, and the clinic: measure what matters, find the weak links, and build before breakdown. We stay small on purpose, so the details don't get missed.
Restore
Come back from pain
Injury, pelvic health, postpartum, movement limits — start with a clinical evaluation, leave with a real plan. How care works →
Train
Build capacity
Small-group strength with coaching, structure, and programming built around your body. See a real session →
Belong
A room for the family
Jiu jitsu for adults and kids, open training, the contrast studio, and a playroom — one roof for the whole household. The mat side →
Who we are
The team.
Co-founder · Doctor of Physical Therapy
Dr. Alyssa Burkitt, PT, DPT
She programs the training and runs the clinic — assessments, care plans, women's and pre/post-partum programs. Also on the mat, training next to the people she treats.
Co-founder · Firefighter
Brian Hood
Career firefighter, strength & conditioning, jiu jitsu. Leads the floor and tactical athlete prep — because the job never let him pick one discipline. San Diego native and father of 2 boys.
Jiu Jitsu · Black Belt
Freddy Martinez
Black belt since 2022 under Professor Johnny Faria — a 5th-degree black belt in the Flavio Behring lineage. Freddy has coached teams to first-place finishes at large regional competitions and is regularly invited to teach seminars. On our mats: patient, detail-first instruction, fundamentals taught like they matter.
Jiu Jitsu · Brown Belt
Tal Pistiner
Brown belt out of Atos HQ under André Galvão — one of the most competitive rooms in the sport — with gold-medal finishes on the IBJJF circuit and international competition experience. Tal also brings real-world combat experience beyond sport: his jiu jitsu is tested, practical, and honest. Expect pace, pressure, and detail.
Why we exist
Four pillars. That's the whole thing.
Performance
Training, strength, jiu jitsu craft. Cues and reps.
Recovery
PT, return-to-sport, the work that makes it stick.
Family
Kids, parents, moving together. The fun stuff.
The long run
Consistency, habit, the compounding math.
The space
One roof, five rooms.
- The strength floor — racks and turf for six, never a crowd
- The mat — no-gi grappling for ten, adults and youth
- The clinic — a real treatment room, a real doctor
- The contrast studio — sauna + cold plunge, included
- The playroom — books, toys, homework table, kids welcome
Find us
Off I-15, near Costco.
12225 World Trade Dr, Ste S · San Diego, CA 92128 — the Carmel Mountain Ranch business park.
From Conference Way, turn north on World Trade Dr, second right, straight to the back. Free parking outside the door.
The promise
Train like you matter. Because you do.
Come see it
A real person answers.
Book a free movement screen with a coach — 45 minutes, 1-on-1, leave with your plan. Or tour the floor first.