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Professor Jose Garcia
Professor Jose Garcia was born and raised in Albuquerque NM and started Jiu Jitsu in 2010 at Gracie Barra Rio Rancho. He trained under Professor Gustavo Alencar (Professor Gustavo Alencar is a Black Belt from Brazil directly under Master Carlos Gracie Jr.) from white belt to black belt and received his black belt in 2019. First Degree in 2022.
Professor Jose has always been known for being extremely intense, technical, and also for having a very unorthodox style of Jiu Jitsu that is highly effective. As a Professor and teacher, he is known for being very detail oriented and his goal is to make every class that he teaches to be of seminar quality.
His goal is to make every student better than himself at Jiu Jitsu! Under Professor Jose, one can expect to work very hard because he is the type of teacher that pushes his students to their limits in an effort to help them become the best versions of themselves!
Professor Jose Garcia is not only a teacher of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but he is also a teacher of life skills. He embodies all the attributes that should be expected in a Martial Arts Instructor.
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Professor Daniel Sandoval
Professor Dan was born and raised in California and studied martial arts most of his life. He started boxing and Muay Thai training with Jason Cordova in the year 2000 and jiu jitsu training in Jason's garage in 2002. His first official dojo class was in 2005 with Alberto Crane in Albuquerque. By 2007, the same school was a Gracie Barra Academy, led by Professor Tussa. He received his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt in July of 2019 from Professor Bryan Waltz and received his 1st degree on that Black Belt in August 2022.
His overall fighting style would be very MMA-ish and street fighting appropriate techniques but he has also learned how to teach for students who are specifically training for tournaments. He knows how to adapt his drilling and teaching style to bring out the best in each individual's talent and body type. He has also been certified with a 500-hour Hatha Yoga teaching certification, so his training will offer a lot of flexibility and overall body weight mastery in the application of the art. During his blue and purple belt, he studied Marcelo Garcia's butterfly guard, X guard, and single leg X. Through his brown and black belt, he's been mastering leg locks and wrist locks. He has cornered fighters for MMA, Muay Thai, no-gi and Gi fights/ competitions.
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Muriel Palanca
Muriel Palanca is our resident yoga teacher and free spirit.
She obtained her 200hr yoga certification through Siddhi Yoga, in person during a month-long stay in Rishikesh, India. She also has her Yoga for BJJ teaching certification, Level 1 and 2. Currently practices yoga at Yoga By Julia.
She has been a BJJ enthusiast since 2016 and has had the opportunity to train all over the world. Most notable being Bunker Cusco in Peru, Bali MMA in Indonesia and Delaware Bushido Academy under Howard Steele in her hometown of Delaware.
By teaching yoga at The War Room, she hopes the students will be more balanced, less sore, more flexible and calmer in stressful situations. Feel free to pull her aside during live rolling for an 8-minute focused yoga session.
It's a marathon, not a sprint. Relaxing the mind and stretching the body will make for happy, healthy, lifelong BJJ practitioners :)
Our Coaches
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Richard Dolan
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Jesse Rodriguez
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McKennah Gomez
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Chris Turner
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Albert Apache
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Izayah Alcala
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Sean Warden
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Jacob Nahar
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Kodi Gonzales
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Bella Romero
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Sugar Shane Metzgar
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Anthony Gonzales
The War Room
The History of The War Room
The War Room started in the home Professor Jose Garcia in March of 2020 in the wake of the Covid lockdown. While the government was basically telling people they had to stop living, Professor Jose Garcia refused! Professor Jose Garcia is one of those individuals who has to train; he cannot go through life without training and so, he converted his living room into a dojo with a set of 12x12 Dollamur mats. The original War Room started with only Professor Jose Garcia and his teammate and friend, Michael, who was a blue belt at the time. Within two weeks, 2 guys turned into 4, then 8, then a dozen. They trained 4-6 days a week, going eight 8-minute rounds and also going over technique instruction as well.
That little 12x12 mat space became a solid home and sanctuary for all the men who trained there, many of which were Combat Veterans who suffered from war related PTSD; Professor Jose himself suffers from PTSD and uses Jiu Jitsu as medication because he does not believe in pharmaceuticals.
In that house, on those mats, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was practiced in its purest form. No Jiu Jitsu politics, no cult-like setting, different practitioners from different schools and different walks of life, all in one room, doing one thing: Jiu Jitsu.
The name “The War Room” actually came from one of Professor Jose’s blue belt students, Jon, who like Professor Jose, is also a Christian. One day after class, Jon posted some pics on his personal Instagram account that he took at the house and the caption read: “Another great day of training in The War Room”. From that day forward the name just stuck! In theory, the name is very reminiscent to the Christian movie “The War Room,” because it is a place, a literal room where people go to train in such a way that they go to war with themselves.
You see, Jiu Jitsu is not just a Martial Art! At The War Room, we believe Jiu Jitsu is a means and method that allows people from all walks of life to fight back against whatever it is they happen to be struggling with. Whether it’s depression, divorce, being overweight, PTSD, suicide, the loss of a loved one, low self-esteem, whatever the ailment, Jiu Jitsu gives the individual the tools to overcome the harshness of life itself.
No matter what someone is going through, when one steps on these mats, for one hour, they do not think about anything other than the task at hand. For one hour, an individual metaphorically unplugs themselves from the world they live in, and the reset button is pushed. Jiu Jitsu truly is a life changing journey!