About Lionheart Jiu Jitsu In Brighton, CO
At Lionheart, we carry on the rich history and tradition of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), a martial art with very deep roots. BJJ’s origins trace back to Japan’s judo, later refined in Brazil into the art we practice today. It’s a martial art that proves strength isn’t just about size; it’s about skill, strategy, and heart.
It’s important to know what training at Lionheart is and isn’t. Training here is about learning, growing, and preparing—not only for competition but for the challenges we face in life. It’s not about ego, aggression, or proving yourself to others. The mats are a space for respect and teamwork. We help each other grow because we know that lifting up our teammates makes us stronger, too.
The idea for Lionheart started much differently than a full-fledged academy, but the evolution has brought us to a greater concept with a larger ability to do good for our community.
We originally only wanted a small space for friends to gather and train. At first, we thought about the concept of a grappling co-op, where members would pay only enough fees to keep the lights on for our private training area. We liked this idea, since it would keep profit motives out of the training and would allow us to focus solely on the art. Initially, we never intended to start an academy and wanted to stick with the small, private format.
However, circumstances changed, and it was clear that a small, private training area would no longer fulfill our evolving vision. With the need and desire to teach Jiu Jitsu as much as he can, Professor Brett Werner wanted to open an academy of his own. He had a vision for how he wanted to teach Jiu Jitsu and now was the perfect time to make that become a reality.
Lionheart is owned by Jiu Jitsu practitioner and Lionheart Instructor, Anthony Garcia - a longtime friend of Professor Brett Werner. Anthony financially backs the academy and runs the business side of things. He does all advertising, purchasing, merchandising, sales, legal, and any other decisions that come with the business side. He is an experienced businessman and enjoys that side almost as much as the Jiu Jitsu.
Professor Brett as the Head Instructor runs the curriculum side. He designs, or approves, all curriculum used in the academy. All of the instructors are under his purview as far as how they conduct classes. Promotions, aesthetics, class schedule and structure, competitions, and any other decisions that have to do with teaching martial arts and the environment are his to make.
One of the largest ways that we're "putting our money where our mouth is," is evident in our salary and compensation structure:
The Owner and Head Instructor are both unpaid. Student dues do not finance their lifestyles.
Thankfully, they're both in unique positions where they don't require a salary from the academy. Due to this, Lionheart can provide the affordable and community-based training we really want, without ever needing to be pressured by profit motives.
We're excited for the opportunity to train with our fellow community members, to build the fellowship of Jiu Jitsu, and to spread the art that we love so much.
Together Anthony and Brett have a vision for this academy. Lionheart Jiu Jitsu is and will be:
• An accepting and inviting place for people from all walks of life who want to train.
• An affordable place to train for anyone who needs it.
• Free of profit motives by focusing on people before money.
• Empowering women with women’s only classes during prime-time evening slots so as many as possible can attend.
• Focused heavily on safety through initiatives like being certified through Academy Safe (more on that later) and having medical equipment.
• Helping our community as much as we can through self-defense outreach and trauma aware classes.
• Focused on high quality and exacting instruction and curriculum from the fundamentals through advanced competition.
• Committed to objective and openly available promotion standards.
• Constantly “showing our work” and pressure testing our technique.
• Committed to the continuing education of our instructors and learning the newest information to bring to students.
• Encouraging members to cross-train at other academies and grow the community.
Professor Brett Werner is the Head Instructor for Lionheart Jiu Jitsu.
He started his Jiu Jitsu journey in 2011 at Zingano BJJ Brighton under the watchful eye of Professor Hans Thompson.
By 2013, Professor Brett was already teaching kids classes and assisting with adult classes. From 2015-2020 he ran the kid's competition team and taught beginners through intermediate adult classes.
As a Brown Belt in 2021, Professor Brett moved on from Zingano BJJ after an ownership change and began studying under Professor Cameron Cordova at Vibrant Jiu Jitsu. Professor Brett also ran the competition program during his time there.
On July 15th, 2023, Professor Brett received his Black Belt from Professor Hans Thompson with Professor Cameron Cordova as the second.
In 2024, Professor Brett parted from Vibrant Jiu Jitsu and then became Head Instructor of Lionheart Jiu Jitsu.
He has competed numerous times in the sport, but prefers to focus on coaching as that is his true passion.
Professor Brett believes that Jiu Jitsu can be a game changer for a person's life journey and wants to help you grow through Jiu Jitsu.
Like many legitimate black belts, Professor Brett Werner can trace his black belt lineage directly back to Mitsuyo Maeda and the Gracie family in Brazil:
Mitsuyo Maeda -> Hélio Gracie -> Rickson Gracie -> Carlos "Caique" Elias -> Mauricio Zingano -> Hans Thompson -> Brett Werner
Anthony Garcia is the owner and financial backing for the academy. He makes all business related decisions, and is also an instructor.
He started BJJ in February of 2019 at Zingano BJJ under Professor Hans Thompson. Hans, a very experienced jiu jitsu player, provided Anthony with the environment he needed to really get hooked on the sport and realize what it can give to people.
After an ownership change at Zingano, Anthony moved on to Vibrant Jiu Jitsu in Brighton. There he studied under Professor Cameron Cordova for a few years.
He then went to train under Professor Damien Cordova in Lafayette, who owns Chroma Jiu Jitsu. Damien, a black belt out of Japan, brought many unique aspects of BJJ to Anthony and dramatically improved his knowledge of the art. Along with Hans and Brett, Damien has been extremely influential in Anthony's BJJ development.
While training at Chroma, Anthony and Brett had the idea for what would become Lionheart - and the rest is legend!
One of Anthony's main goals with the academy is to spread martial arts to as many people as possible. Anthony is a survivor of childhood trauma and he recognizes the powerful affect that martial arts can have in people's lives.
Outside of the gym Anthony is a General Partner and Chief Technology Officer of a global, algorithmic, quantitative futures trading firm specializing in licensing his algorithms to retail traders. He's been in the stock markets studying businesses for 20 years, is a published author in the field, and has a degree in Data Analytics with a focus on statistics and machine learning.
He has two labradors, a terrier, an understanding wife, and a son.
Perhaps the best way to tell you about what we stand for is to describe our logo.
The lion rampant (upper right): The lion rampant is a sigil used since medieval times. The lion itself symbolizes courage and strength, while the rampant attitude (standing on hind legs) symbolizes its ferocity in the face of adversity.
The column (upper left): The column represents our base. In Jiu Jitsu our base is the ability to cement ourselves in one position and avoid being swept or reversed out of a dominant stance. In life as well, we rely on our base to keep us grounded in what really matters to us.
The anvil (bottom center): The anvil represents pressure, and our resistance to it, both in Jiu Jitsu and in life. As Jiu Jitsu is frequently an allegory for life, so is the anvil, representing our steadfast resistance to that which bears down on us and our use of pressure in the art of Jiu Jitsu.
The waves (bottom surrounding the anvil): The ocean waves represent flow. Flow is our ability in Jiu Jitsu, and life, to adapt to what may come. We are always faced with new situations and events and must move to counter or accept them.
The shield (coat of arms design): The shield and coat of arms design represents the ancient roots of discipline, integrity, combat, grit, and the ability to defend oneself.
You’ve certainly seen it around the academy, our clothing, and social media. It’s Latin for “actions, not words.”
Owner Anthony chose to begin displaying this because he felt it represented a lot of our attitude. We want to “be about it,” not just say it. It’s easy to say that you support something, but it’s difficult to truly do it and be about it.
It’s easy for gyms to say that they “support safety,” it’s difficult to get as many certifications and as much training as we have. It’s easy for a gym to say, “we support women,” it’s very hard for them to give up a prime-time slot in the evenings that would make them more money if it was a co-ed class.
It's easy to say a gym “teaches self-defense,” but it’s difficult to develop it into its own class and fly to other states for days at a time to learn specialized skills to teach. It’s easy to say, “it’s not about the money,” but difficult to charge reasonable prices well below market rate so many more can participate.
We also see and support the dedication of every student on those mats. They’re the ones that are putting in hard work all the time to learn, train, and improve themselves, their minds, their bodies. They are showing their dedication to discipline, honor, and integrity by their actions and not just their words.
We are the people who don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk. We take the hard fork in the road, and never the easy path.
That is why we display “Acta Non Verba.”
We are proudly fully accredited with Academy Safe.
Academy Safe is a third party martial arts accreditation non-profit organization that inspects and certifies martial arts academies for safety. Our coaching staff is certified and trained to provide the best instruction in a safe and supportive environment and our facility is equipped and managed to prioritize the safety and well-being of everyone who steps onto our mats.
Every coach at Lionheart Jiu Jitsu has:
Background Checks
SafeSport Certification
CPR, First Aid, and Defibrillator Training
Concussion Awareness Training
Verified Belt Rank and Lineage
Academy Accreditation Requirements:
Defibrillators On-Site
Security Cameras
Comprehensive Insurance
See our accreditation here: https://academysafe.org/places/lionheart-jiu-jitsu/
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