I agree with much of what you're saying. I haven't used an agility ladder, but it appears to mostly be a warmup, as it doesn't mimic court movement. I'd rather do jump rope or hopping than use an agility ladder. One area traditional barbell exercises lack is rotational strength. I believe that can be trained with things like medicine ball throws, sledge hammer training, and even some of the landmine stuff as advocated by Weck. If I had unlimited resources, I'd get Keiser machines to do most of my strength training as they are pneumatic and allow you to attempt full power through weightlifting movement without launching the weight.
I haven't used a Keiser machine in over two decades, but I recall it having eccentric loading that was faster than gravity. Basically the air displaced presses back into the piston from a compression chamber as you lower your body. Of course, the setup will require an air compressor to charge up the machines, but you can adjust the pressure with buttons while you work. I haven't used chains, but I've used some bands. I know that Keiser has a pulley system which can be attached to their lifting cage machine so that you can keep weights from going ballistic when training. I know that some good Olympic athlete centers have these machines. I've seen video of Su Bingtian, the famous Chinese sprinter, doing explosive squats using such a setup.
I occasionally do clap pushups. Not sure if rhis is good for speed or not.
I just watched the above video and I think I figured out how/why I injured my hamstring sprinting. My form may have ben bad? I was trying to take too long of a stride and the front leg was too straight and not bent enough.
Randy Huntington who is a famous jump and sprint coach said that in drills the lower part of the leg should almost hang from the knee at the top of the knee drive. If you straighten the leg too soon, you not only risk the hamstring, but also slow the speed at which the foot strikes the ground.
The big lesson is just because someone exercises all the time, doesn't mean they're prepared for athletic movement. There's a lot of specificity in training and too many gym bros think that being able to move a lot of weight on a barbell means that they're good athletes. They're probably only good athletes if it involves moving a lot of weight on a barbell.
This is a great point.
Lifting can be an efficient way to gain strength. Randy Huntington, a famous high performance coach, talked about training the Chinese sprinter Su Bingtian. Bingtian is a genetic freak in terms of how quickly he can reposition his legs, yet he was still having trouble going under 10 seconds in the 100m. Huntington could see that he had a power leak from his calves. Despite being able to squat over 2.5x his body weight, Bingtian had weaker calf muscles than some of the teen girls Huntington was training.
Only as strong as our weakest link. So weird that a sprinter wouldn't do any calf training up to that point.
I think he had been doing some calf training, but not bent-leg soleus stuff. Huntington has convinced me that building strong soleus muscles is very important in supporting fast acceleration. The bodybuilding guys tend to dismiss the bent-leg calf work because they are just going for show. Huntington developed the Keiser bent-leg calf raise machine for training former world record holder in the triple jump Willie Banks and Mike Powell (currently long jump world record holder) used it in his training.
Can't remember where I saw it, but looked liked bent knee calf work had marginal benefit to soleus growth compared to regular calf raises. Obviously, the cost of doing some bent knee calf work is minimal.
I've seen studies like that too, but I put greater weight on the opinion of the high performance coaches I follow. I view most of the exercise science stuff with suspicion, but I still am interested in it. One of my brothers has a kinesiology degree, so he spent some time participating in lab studies.
I would suggest a rebounder trampoline over a mattress, more durable. Got to keep bouncing.
Should I be running uphill or downhill?
Top speed training should be done on level ground, while acceleration drills can be performed going up a hill.
I'm doing a variant of it twice a week at the moment. My current schedule is Monday and Thursday. I lift on these same days after the Atomic Speed workout. Tuesday and Wednesday and Friday are recovery/tennis days. Once a week is going to be enough for someone who hasn't been sprinting in a while or is older, but you ideally are doing other exercise the rest of the week.
I'm working on finding a workable schedule for everyrhing.
Atomic Speed.
Ideally, before the sprint you feel recovered from previous exercise and warmed up with the short drills. The best option is to do the Atomic speed workout on a gym day before the gym work. Assuming that you can find somewhere suitable to sprint near your gym, you're only talking about 20 minutes or so more to your workout.
Unfortunately, my gym and the area adjacent to it doesn't have a flat area that is long enough to do short sprints. I've been doing it on a small residential street.
I think they are safer because of the reduced impact, but I've still seen calf injuries among those who let their heels drop too much. Keep your ankle stiff and watch out for heel drop when doing hill sprints.
Hot damn!
