How to Practice Football at Home

Sometimes once-a-week group training sessions aren’t enough for those of us who want to get ahead of the game or are working towards going pro. At-home football training is a great solution for getting in some extra exercise and practice, and it could be the difference between winning and losing your next match.

Luckily, there are plenty of drills you can practise without needing another person to pass back to you. From dribbling to wall passes, in this blog, we’ve created a list of exercises and drills that you can do at home so you can watch your skills grow faster than ever before.

Can you practise football at home alone?

While many may count it out or not consider it at all, doing football drills at home is an effective way to work on areas that need improving. There’s no waiting for your turn or working on drills you’ve already perfected, instead, practising alone means you can fully cater your training sessions to yourself and your needs.

A few pieces of equipment you’ll need for training at home are:

• A football
• Cones
• A wall or fence

You can also take it a step further and get a goal for your garden to practise your shots or a rebounder to improve your passing.

When solo training at home, you’ll also need a reliable training football that can keep up with your movements when you’re working on drills such as wall passes. For this, we would recommend the Pro Player football as it ensures optimal performance on both match days and when training at home. It’s designed to meet the needs of amateurs and professionals alike and the reinforced rubbers makes it not only durable but provides a solid bounce.

PRO PLAYER FOOTBALL - HYPER BLUE (£8.95)

Football drills to practise at home

Doing solo practices outside of your regular training means you’ll have much more time with the ball and you should see a much faster improvement of your skills. To help you start enhancing your routine, we’ve included a list below of all the best football drills you can do at home, alone.

1. Practise cone dribbling 

Dribbling is a great way to practice your control of the ball. Using cones, you can do a variety of different practices that will help improve your endurance and defence when you’re in control of the ball. Below are a few ways you can practise your dribbling with cones.

• Endurance training - When dribbling for endurance, set four cones around 20-30 feet apart, in a square and dribble the ball from one cone to another as fast as you can while maintaining complete control over the ball. Manoeuvre around the cones, controlling the ball through each turn.
• Control training - For this drill, set up your cones in a straight line about 3 feet apart. Weaving in and out through the cones, focus on your technique of controlling the ball with the inside and outside of your feet.

2. Wall Passes

Wall passes are a great football drill to practise alone and can achieve various results depending on what your goal is. You can use wall passes to:

Practise the power of your kicks - This includes hitting the ball against the wall as hard as possible to train your leg muscles.

Give-and-go drills - This wall drill includes hitting the ball back and forth against the wall in rapid succession which can help with practices such as bypassing defence.

Practising your stops - For this, you’ll kick the ball against the wall and practise stopping the ball with your foot rather than hitting it back.

3. Ball juggling

Ball juggling includes using various parts of your body to prevent the ball from hitting the ground for as long as possible. Football is a high-contact sport and practising intercepting the ball with other parts of your body that aren’t just your feet, such as chest, thighs and head can help you when you’re out on the pitch.

4. Practise your shooting

An accurate shot could be the decider between winning and losing your next game, so it’s worth it to practise this in your home drills. This drill can be done with a goal if you have one or you can place down a few cones or stones to give yourself a target to shoot towards. You can even move the cones or stones closer together for a harder target to hone the accuracy of your kicks.

5. Push Pull

Push the ball forward and catch it with the sole of your foot to work on your control of the ball. You can practise with each foot individually or push forward with one foot and stop it with the sole of your other foot to perfect control.

6. Use a football rebounder

A rebounder is a great piece of home equipment for football training. It bounces the ball back to you with much greater power and speed than hitting a ball against a wall, making it more effective for training.

Home workouts for football training

Working on your football skills at home doesn’t always mean perfecting your technique through drills. Focusing energy on your muscles and general exercise will help to improve the power of your kicks and running speed. Below, we’ve included some of the best home workouts for footballers in training.

1. Running

Speed and stamina are two big things you need on the field - so running outside of your regular drills can massively enhance your performance. Running doesn’t require any equipment and can be done by running outdoors, running on a treadmill or even doing laps of your garden; there are many ways to incorporate running into a training routine.

A good running workout will be incorporated into a running plan for the best results. You can even try your hand at marathons and other running events to work on your stamina outside of your football training. Or, if races aren’t your thing, then you can try increasing your stamina using a treadmill. If you want to know more about these workouts you can read through our beginners guide to running on a treadmill.

2. Russian twists

Russian twists are a great multi-purpose workout that will target multiple of the main muscle groups you need for football training. They can also help you focus on balance and coordination as well as promote hamstring flexibility - making them an ideal exercise for footballers. 

To do a Russian twist then, you’ll need to:

1. Sit on the floor and bend your knees.
2. You can either keep your feet flat on the floor or lift them into the air for more of a challenge.
3. Lean back and clap your hands in front of you (You can also hold a weight for added challenge).
4. Twist your torso from side to side and bring your hands or the weight you’re holding to touch the floor on each side.
5. Do this for around 10-15 reps, repeating for three sets with a rest in between for recovery.

3. Toe Touches

Toe touches are a great way to engage those important core muscles as well as work on flexibility. To get the most out of this exercise, you’ll want to make sure you’re doing it in a slow and controlled manner.

To do toe touches you’ll need to:

1. Lay on your back with your legs extended upwards and your arms extended beside your head.
2. Lift your shoulder blades off the ground and keep your chin tucked into your chest.
3. Reach your hands out to touch your toes, making sure to inhale going up and exhale coming down.

4. Squats

Squats will help you focus on your essential leg muscles and they don’t require equipment or much space to do them. Doing squats regularly can help with a variety of skills such as increasing the power of your kicks and jumps as well as aiding running speed. The best thing about squats is that they strengthen your bones and tendons as well as muscles, helping to take tension away from your knees and ankles, which will help prevent future injuries.

Get the right kit for practising football at home with Avec Sport

Getting in some extra football training at home can take your skills from amateur to pro much faster than relying on weekly group training sessions. It allows you time to focus on strengthening your weaknesses and will improve your performance on the pitch.

If you’re planning to begin your home training regime then you’re going to need to make sure you have all the right equipment for the job for an effective workout. Here at Avec Sport, we have a wide range of sportswear to support your movements and a range of training footballs to aid your solo training at home.