Logic Wasn't Opened.
It Was Earned.

Kristian Woodmansee won an IBJJF World Championship title — one of the highest honors in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu — and came home to Philadelphia to open an academy called Roots in Fairmount.

Dennis Pressey Jr. came with him as a full-time competitor and instructor. Not a hobbyist helping out at the front desk. A professional training and competing full-time while teaching the room every week.

That is the origin of everything Logic teaches today: a curriculum written by people who were actively competing at the highest level of the sport, tested on real students, in a real room, every single day.

The academy outgrew Fairmount. In 2019 the move to a larger, upgraded facility came with a new name: Logic.

The same year, Dennis was promoted to Black Belt — awarded jointly by his professor Kristian Woodmansee and JT Torres at JT's academy. Both names are on the promotion.

Logic grew fast and became one of the premier academies in the city — known for competitive results and, unusually, for actually coaching beginners instead of throwing them into the deep end.

Covid hit, and landlord complications on top of it forced an abrupt facility change. For a lot of academies in Philadelphia, that was the end of the story.

It wasn't here. Training continued. The team kept the room together through the least stable stretch the martial arts industry has ever had — and came out of it looking for a permanent home rather than a temporary fix.

In 2021 Logic opened at 1360 N American St — the current location — and has operated here ever since. Five-plus years in one building, in one neighborhood, with the same head instructor on the mats daily.

This facility was chosen for the things that actually make people keep showing up: on-site parking so you're not circling the block before class, over 2,000 square feet of mat space so a full room never feels cramped, and locker rooms with showers and hotel-level amenities so training before or after work is realistic.

Logic is now owned and run by Dennis A. Pressey Jr. — Kristian's black belt, 2x IBJJF No-Gi Pan American medalist, and UFC Fight Pass veteran — with a staff of five black belts, a brown belt, a purple belt, and three dedicated Muay Thai coaches.

In 2025 Kristian Woodmansee relocated to Georgia to open another academy. By the end of 2025, Dennis A. Pressey Jr. — his black belt, promoted in 2019 — had formally taken over as Head of Logic Philadelphia.

That handoff was not a reset. It was the person who had been teaching the room since day one taking formal ownership of it.

Logic's lineage still runs through ATOS — André Galvão to Kristian Woodmansee to Dennis. That history doesn't change. What changed is the affiliation going forward.

In 2026 Logic joined Vanguard — the affiliation led by IBJJF Champion and ADCC medalist Josh Hinger alongside Logic founder Kristian Woodmansee.

Vanguard is the academy's current affiliation. ATOS remains Dennis's lineage and the academy's history: André Galvão → Kristian Woodmansee → Dennis A. Pressey Jr.

Philadelphia students train under a live, competing, nationally connected system — not a franchise binder.

Dennis grew the kids program into a five-day-per-week offering — the most complete kids martial arts schedule in the area. Not one class a week you have to build your life around, but real options so a working parent can actually make it.

Logic is also Philadelphia's only beginner-exclusive Jiu Jitsu program: a dedicated White Belt curriculum with its own class schedule, taught by black belts, where nobody in the room is more experienced than you.

Over 700 students have trained here in the last five years, with 200+ active members on the mats today.

The competition team backs it up — 3 IBJJF World Championship titles (Gina Mancuso in 2023 and 2024, plus founder Kristian Woodmansee), 3 IBJJF medalists, and countless medals across local IBJJF events. The same coaches producing those results are the ones teaching your first class.