Community Highlights: Meet Marco Olano of Kamikaze Fitness Phx

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marco Olano. 

Hi Marco, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
Hello, my name is Marco Olano, I am a certified personal trainer, certified nutrition coach, former MMA fighter Latin American welterweight champion and national Peruvian welterweight champion, and proud owner of Kamikaze Fitness Phoenix. I started my personal training business about 4 years ago in Phoenix, but fitness has been a huge part of my life since I was a kid. I started boxing at age 11, began training MMA at age 15, and started fighting professional MMA age at 17 in Peru. When I was 21, I opened my own MMA gym in Lima where I taught MMA and fitness classes. My passion for fitness and health runs deep as I have been in competitive sports and strength and conditioning activities since a young age including swimming, rugby, and marathon running. 

What brought me to what I do today is trying to recreate the same atmosphere and environment that I grew up in. That is why I created Kamikaze Fitness Phoenix to try and encourage people to improve their lives through fitness and health. My goal in creating my private fitness studio was to create a space where all my clients feel comfortable and motivated to reach their specific health and fitness goals. Being a smaller space there is much more of an individualized experience for each person that walks in the door because the client’s specific goals are my main priority. Therefore, I personalize each of my client’s workouts based on their goals ranging from strength and conditioning to weight loss to self-defense, and improved athleticism. For all my clients interested in boxing and MMA I teach them all my expertise and the athleticism involved with fighting without the potential injuries of actually being a fighter. My goal is to give them all the tools they need to make fitness a part of their daily lifestyle for long-term health and general wellbeing. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest obstacle was leaving my home country with my family, friends, entire support system, sponsors, my trainers, and the business I owned. I basically had to start all over in a foreign country and become fluent in the language. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Owning a personal fitness studio, I am able to create a very personalized experience, which differs from large gyms with hundreds of people. I help improve the lives of many different people seeking weight loss, boxing, self-defense, gaining muscle, obtaining self-confidence, HIIT, boot camps, and personal training. What I think sets me apart from others is that I have been an athlete my entire life and I preach a lifestyle that I truly believe in and live by every day. This is the life I grew up in and it is what I love to share with people to help improve their life quality mentally and physically. The feedback I receive from my clients is that I have a special ability to connect with many different types of people including an addict focusing on fitness as a big part of their recovery, a teenager who gets bullied at school, an athlete who’s looking for a strength and conditioning coach to push them to the next level, or an adult who has never worked out in their life and is just starting their health and fitness journey. I can honestly say I love what I do and my clients can see that every day. 

What does success mean to you?
Success can be defined in many ways but ultimately success is very individualized. Personally, I define success as being able to live a life I fully enjoy, serve people with my gifts along their own journey, and be able to provide economically for my family. Opening this gym is really a dream come true because working in an industry that I feel so much passion for is a huge blessing. Life is too short to waste your time doing something you don’t really love. 

Contact Info:

• Email: marco.olano.fitness@gmail.com
• Instagram: @marcolano93
• Facebook: Kamikaze Fitness Phx
• Other: TikTok: @marcolano93

Image Credits
Jessica Olano