(KDLM) – A sports training facility utilized by Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen, as well as other NFL players, is expanding in Minnesota.
ETS Sports Performance Gym already has 10 locations in Minnesota and announced that it is expanding with two more locations coming to Duluth and Forest Lake. The two new locations are expected to open on August 29th.
The company was launched by Ryan Engelbert in 2010 (ETS stands for Engelbert Training Systems), and it has since been invested in by current and former NFL players, including Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen and former Green Bay Packers fullback John Kuhn. Marcus Sherels, a former Minnesota Gophers and Vikings, has co-owned the Rochester gym since 2019.
Thielen trained at the gym to get ready for the 2013 NFL Combine.
Engelbert started the company after his dreams of becoming an NFL player ended in Bengals training camp in 2007. He overcame a devastating head-on car crash in 2003, which left him with a shattered pelvis, skull fracture, and serious knee injury among other things.
“That’s my biggest bout of adversity,” Engelbert recalled on an episode of the ETS Podcast. “I was told my world-renowned hip specialists that I’d be lucky to ever walk again let alone getting back to playing the game of football. That was adversity that I faced that, as a 20-year-old, you’re not expecting to have to go through that. Or life taking a detour based on how you envision it going. But I used that as fuel and motivation to not only get back to walking but also get back to playing football.”
The year after his accident, Engelbert was on the field for UW-Stout as a running back, where he would earn two All-Conference honors as a Blue Devil.
ETS offers training tailored to an athlete’s needs and the sport they play. ETS works with youth, high school, college, professional and Olympic athletes. The gyms are open to anyone 8 years and older, regardless of ability.
The training also focuses on character development and mental toughness.
Thielen and Engelbert also co-host the ETS Podcast, which can be heard Saturdays at 8 am on KDLM and streamed online on the ETS website.
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