War Room students lined up before training

The War Room

About the academy

Born in a living room. Built into a sanctuary.

The War Room began in March 2020 when Professor Jose Garcia converted his home into a dojo. What started as a 12x12 mat space became a place for people from all walks of life to fight back against whatever life put in front of them.

Coaching team

Technical. Intense. Patient when it matters.

Founder - Black Belt - First Degree

Professor Jose Garcia

Professor Jose Garcia was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and started Jiu-Jitsu in 2010 at Gracie Barra Rio Rancho. He trained under Professor Gustavo Alencar, a black belt from Brazil directly under Master Carlos Gracie Jr., from white belt to black belt. Professor Jose received his black belt in 2019 and his first degree in 2022.

Professor Jose has always been known for being extremely intense, technical, and for having a very unorthodox style of Jiu-Jitsu that is highly effective. As a professor and teacher, he is known for being detail oriented, with a goal of making every class he teaches seminar quality.

His goal is to make every student better than himself at Jiu-Jitsu. Under Professor Jose, students can expect to work very hard because he pushes them 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 also a teacher of life skills. He embodies the attributes that should be expected in a martial arts instructor.

Big Kids - Adults Fundamentals

Richard Dolan

Richard was raised in Southern California. He served in the Navy submarine force before earning his B.S. in psychology from UNM.

After years of training MMA, he switched directions at Clube De Pitbull Jiu-Jitsu and obtained his purple belt. After some years off, the BJJ bug bit him again. This is when he found The War Room and Professor Jose, with whom he earned his brown belt.

Richard currently teaches the Big Kids and Adults Fundamentals classes. His style incorporates detailed technique and economical movement: less is more. He teaches with sequences and common sense as the number one focus.

He exudes the perfect balance of discipline, encouragement, and good character. It is an honor to have him teaching at The War Room.

Black Belt - Competitor - Veteran

Professor Chris Turner

Professor Christopher Turner was born and raised in New England. He began training Jiu-Jitsu in 2012 at Gracie Barra and joined The War Room School of Jiu-Jitsu upon its opening in 2021. Professor Chris earned his black belt in 2025, becoming the first person to earn a black belt under Professor Jose Garcia.

Professor Chris is known for being fundamentally sound in all areas. As a competitor, he has placed and won in competition at every level. He has also taught at all levels for several years. As an instructor, he is patient and detail oriented, with a goal of ensuring students receive the best instruction available.

Professor Chris always has an excellent attitude and demeanor. Tough and determined, he hopes that his resilience is infectious with others.

Outside of Jiu-Jitsu, Professor Chris has a master's degree. He is also an Army veteran who fought in Afghanistan. He hopes his combined experiences help make himself and others the best Jiu-Jitsu practitioners they can be.

Blue Belt - IBJJF Gold Medalist - Coach

Aubrey Donahue

Aubrey Donahue is a dedicated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor and coach at The War Room School of Jiu-Jitsu, known for her discipline, leadership, and passion for helping others grow on and off the mats. As a blue belt with years of competitive experience, Aubrey has earned gold medals in numerous local and out-of-state tournaments and became The War Room's first IBJJF gold medalist, a milestone that reflects both her commitment to the sport and her ability to perform at a high level under pressure.

Beyond competition, Aubrey brings a strong background in movement, timing, and body control through nearly seven years of dance training in flamenco, ballet, and samba, which has helped shape her fluid and technical approach to Jiu-Jitsu. Her experience as a flamenco guitarist has also strengthened her discipline, creativity, and focus, qualities she carries into her coaching style.

Aubrey is passionate about creating a positive and challenging learning environment for students of all levels. She believes Jiu-Jitsu is not only about technique and competition, but also about confidence, resilience, and personal growth. Through her experience, leadership, and dedication to the art, she strives to help students build both skill and character every time they step onto the mats.

Brown Belt - Veteran - Coach

Albert Apache

With 12 to 13 years of total Jiu-Jitsu experience, Albert Apache began his journey under Kalo Lopez in Albuquerque before spending five years helping manage and teach at a prominent affiliate school in Arizona. After a year of traveling the country by RV and training nationwide, he found his ultimate home base at The War Room under Professor Jose. Though he started here in 2021 while splitting time on the road for work, he has spent over two solid years fully integrated into this specific mat space.

Albert's approach to leadership was forged in the U.S. Army, where he learned that effective teaching requires clear communication and absolute accountability. Today, he pairs that military discipline with a stoic life philosophy: life gets hard, but we do not need to make it harder on ourselves.

As a veteran brown belt working back from major surgery, his time at The War Room has helped reshape his game. Professor Jose's signature heavy pressure style and unique take on details have been extremely helpful in this evolution. Within the unique culture of trust and security built here, Albert has had the freedom to go back to the drawing board without fear of failure.

He trusts his training partners enough to purposefully put himself in bad positions and creatively work out of them. This environment has given him the opportunity to step away from youth-driven athletic explosions and fully transition into a high-leverage, high-pressure game built on timing and trickery.

As Albert works toward returning to competition, earning his black belt, and eventually running his own academy, his mission at The War Room is to help grow the classes, foster a lifelong love for the art, and show students how to use mat resilience to conquer life off of them.

Yoga for BJJ

Muriel Palanca

Muriel Palanca is our resident yoga teacher and free spirit. She obtained her 200-hour 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, and 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 notably at 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, Muriel hopes 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 eight-minute focused yoga session.

It is a marathon, not a sprint. Relaxing the mind and stretching the body will make for happy, healthy, lifelong BJJ practitioners.

War Room coaches and students gathered after training

The War Room story

The History of The War Room

The War Room started in the home of 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. He is one of those individuals who has to train; he cannot go through life without training. 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, two guys turned into four, then eight, then a dozen. They trained four to six days a week, going eight 8-minute rounds and also going over technique instruction.

That little 12x12 mat space became a solid home and sanctuary for all the men who trained there, many of whom 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 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 photos 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 stuck.

In theory, the name is reminiscent of 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.

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 they happen to be struggling with. Whether it is depression, divorce, being overweight, PTSD, suicide, the loss of a loved one, low self-esteem, or any other ailment, Jiu-Jitsu gives the individual tools to overcome the harshness of life itself.

No matter what someone is going through, when they step 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 from the world they live in, and the reset button is pushed. Jiu-Jitsu truly is a life-changing journey.

Meet the team