Quote · Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth
2890: Speed Training for Athletes | How to Sprint Faster Without Getting Hurt w/ Brian Kula
Where this was said
Biggest mistakes young athletes and coaches make and the multi-sport debate
At 59:06 · chapter starts 51:00
The conversation shifts to business when Sal asks about ETS Performance, the Minneapolis-based company that acquired Kula Sports Performance. Kula describes ETS as a faith-based, corporately-owned performance company founded by Ryan Engelbert — who trained NFL receiver Adam Thielen — that has grown to over 80 locations and is targeting becoming the world's largest performance company. The acquisition model is intentional: no franchise, all corporate ownership, with every new coach brought to Minneapolis for three months of full immersion training before opening a location. Kula sold the company but retained an equity stake and an active role in thought leadership, speed development education, and growth strategy. He frames the sale not as a loss but as a multiplier — overnight access to 50,000 athletes he couldn't have reached alone. On the question of career paths for trainers wanting to enter sports performance, Kula is direct to the point of being blunt: personal trainers who dabble in sports performance are 'dangerous' — they have enough knowledge to cause problems but not enough to achieve results. His advice is to go entirely all-in, including through unpaid internships and deep coursework, because these are genuinely different disciplines. He acknowledges the financial difficulty of the sports performance path, which is part of why he sees ETS as valuable — it creates a viable salary trajectory for coaches who previously had little option beyond low-paying college staff positions.
Multi-sport development is ideal through childhood, but Kula acknowledges the real-world pressure of specialization by high school. His pragmatic advice: stay multi-sport through at least freshman year to avoid overuse injuries and build diverse movement patterns, then commit — because in precision sports like baseball, you can't catch up by jumping in late.
Kula recommends multi-sport participation through at least the freshman year of high school to build diverse movement patterns and avoid overuse injuries before specializing.
When 6-year-olds show up wanting speed training, Kula sends them to gymnastics instead. Body awareness, bodyweight strength, and quality movement patterns built in gymnastics make athletes far more coachable when they return at 9. It's not remedial — it's the fastest path to elite performance.
Kula turns away athletes younger than 9 and recommends gymnastics first, believing it builds superior body awareness and movement quality before speed training.
When a Tennessee Titans player asked Kula who the best speed coach is, Kula pointed at his own parents. Genetics set the ceiling for athletic potential — coaches just help athletes reach it. The work matters, but the blueprint is largely inherited.
When asked who the best speed coach is, Kula told a Tennessee Titans player 'it's your mom and dad' — genetics play a massive role in athletic potential.
