Speaker
Brian Kula
Appearances over time
1 episodes
Episodes
1
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Brian Kula's progressive running mechanics system has been developed and refined over 25 years with ~30 signature drills covering linear, lateral, and change-of-direction movement.
Strength-trained athletes who never sprint (like someone who deadlifts 600 lbs) are at higher injury risk when sprinting than deconditioned people, because they can produce more ground force without the CNS coordination.
New research shows hamstring pulls occur because the nervous system cannot relax the muscle fast enough after contraction at speed — no weight-room exercise replicates this demand.
Cold plunges can shut down the nervous system for up to 24 hours, potentially hurting athletic performance if done the day before a game.
Research suggests over 80% of ACL tears in female athletes occur during their menstrual cycle, likely due to hormonal effects on ligament laxity.
Brian Kula incorporates overcoming isometrics into every single training session — both for fast-twitch activation and for tendon and ligament health.
Kula's top strength exercises for speed development are trap bar deadlift, box squat (with velocity focus), and overcoming isometric split squats.
ETS Performance, the company that acquired Kula Sports Performance, operates over 80 corporately-owned locations and is targeting becoming the world's largest performance company.
Kula states that actual exposure to sprinting speed is the single most critical thing to bulletproof hamstrings — no weight-room exercise can replicate the neural demand of sprinting.
Kula turns away athletes younger than 9 and recommends gymnastics first, believing it builds superior body awareness and movement quality before speed training.
Unlike hyperbaric chambers which vasoconstrict and push more oxygen in, CO2 paste vasodilates blood vessels and leverages the Bohr effect to deliver oxygen already in the blood into tissue more effectively.
Kula says any athlete not taking creatine given the overwhelming research on its benefits is 'foolish,' while recommending holding off on supplements generally until natural potential is maximized.
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.
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.
Brian Kula has worked with Christian McCaffrey since he was 13 years old, identifying him as a future NFL player as early as 8th grade based on his movement quality and mentality.
Personal trainers who dabble in sports performance will never truly serve elite athletes — and might make things worse. Kula's advice is brutal and direct: go all in, take the unpaid internship, do the deep courses, because these are two different worlds that require complete commitment to master.
Most people who get hurt running are victims of a volume problem, not a fitness problem — they just dove in without preparation. Kula's Bounce Fire system fixes this by drilling ankle mechanics first, then hip and knee drive, building thousands of correct ground contacts before an athlete ever goes out for a real run.
Running injuries aren't random — they happen because people skip the three pillars: structural tolerance, mechanical efficiency, and neural coordination. Jump into high-volume running without all three and your body will break down, no matter how fit you are.
When runners reach forward with their leg, they put the hamstring in a stretched, loaded position and then demand explosive force from it — that's exactly when hamstrings tear. Getting the foot under the center of mass and pushing rather than reaching forward is the single most important mechanical fix.
Sal Di Stefano can deadlift 600 lbs but pulled his hamstring sprinting for the first time in years — and Brian Kula says that's completely predictable. A strength-trained athlete who never sprints can generate enormous ground force but lacks the CNS coordination to control it, making them more dangerous than a completely deconditioned person.
Rather than relying on how athletes feel — because elite athletes never think they're tired — Kula uses force plate counter-movement jumps and fly-ten velocity tests to objectively assess readiness. If an athlete's numbers are down after a heavy game weekend, they get extra rest, not more work.
Trap bar deadlift, box squat with velocity focus, and overcoming isometric split squats are Kula's top three strength exercises for speed — and he uses them the same way for youth and elite athletes. The trap bar deadlift alone touches 7 muscle groups and mimics the pushing forces of sprinting.
Isometrics deliver fast strength gains, build tendon and ligament health, and produce minimal soreness — yet they've virtually disappeared from modern training. The reason? You can't make an impressive Instagram video pushing against a wall for 10 seconds.
The functional training wave of the late '90s and 2000s removed the most important tool for athletic performance: heavy concentric strength work. Removing back squats and deadlifts in favor of balance board exercises stripped athletes of the foundational strength that bulletproofs them against injury.
Most coaches don't know that over 80% of ACL tears in female athletes appear to occur during their menstrual cycle, likely due to hormonal effects on ligament laxity. Awareness doesn't prevent games from being played, but it should drive targeted hip stability and deceleration training year-round.
Hyperbaric chambers push more oxygen into the body but vasoconstrict, limiting blood flow. CO2 paste does the opposite — it vasodilates and uses the Bohr effect to help hemoglobin release oxygen directly into damaged tissue. Kula says the results on athletes have been dramatic enough to call it revolutionary.
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 watched McCaffrey dunk a basketball in 8th grade at 5'10" and knew immediately he was different. What separated McCaffrey wasn't just genetics — it was an obsession with being the best that started at 13 and never let up. A decade of working together and the results speak for themselves.
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 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.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Health & Fitness 50%
- Sports 50%
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