If you want to step up your game and improve your football performance you’ll want to make sure that you’re training often. However, you may not always be able to rely on others to train with you. Fortunately, there are many football drills that you can practise at home alone, from dribbling to wall passes, to help keep your skills sharp in between team sessions. 

If you want to reach your football goals more quickly then training regularly will help you on your way. Practice makes perfect, after all, and extra football training at home can be the difference between winning and losing your next game. So, to help you boost your solo training routine, we’ve compiled a list of exercises and drills that you can do from the comfort of your own home, no matter how much space you have.

How to improve football fitness at home

Exercising alongside your football drills is a great way to enhance overall performance as well as minimising the risk of injury. Incorporating cardio and strength training into your routine will improve endurance, speed and agility when you’re out on the pitch. Start building this into your home training routine by trying out some of the following exercises.

Running

Running is a great way to enhance your speed and stamina and there are plenty of ways that you can practise this at home. Whether you want to run outside, set up a treadmill indoors, or even run laps around your garden, there are many ways to incorporate running into your training routine. 

Running doesn’t require any equipment so it’s free and easy to do, however, if you want to avoid any injuries while you train up your stamina, you’ll want to make sure that you have a good running plan in place. You can attempt marathons or charity runs to challenge yourself to run consistently, and if you want to know where to start when training up for a marathon or a run you can check out our how to train for a marathon blog for more great tips and advice.

Russian twists

Looking for an exercise that trains a variety of core muscles while simultaneously working on balance? Russian twists are a great multipurpose exercise as they put multiple muscle groups to work at once. 

To do a Russian twist, you’ll want to sit on the floor and bend your knees, you can either keep your feet flat on the floor or (for more of a challenge) you can lift them into the air to further engage your core muscles. Lean back and clasp your hands in front of your chest, you can hold a ball for added weight as well. Twist your torso from side to side, bringing your clasped hands or ball to tap the ground on each side. Aim for 10-15 reps on each side for a well-rounded workout. 

Russian twists can help to improve your balance and coordination as well as promote flexibility by stretching your hamstring muscles, making them a perfect exercise for football players. If you want to take it a step further you can hold a ball for added weight, this will help to achieve better results as the added weight will give your body more of a challenge.

Toe touches

Toe touches are similar to ab crunches however, as your legs are extended towards the ceiling, your core must do more to keep you balanced. Start by lying on your back and extending your feet into the air, lift your shoulder blades off the ground, keeping your chin to your chest to engage your core muscles. Reach your hands out to touch your toes, or as close as you can get them, making sure to exhale going up and inhale coming down.

Toe touches are a great way to improve your flexibility for your football training. It stretches your hamstrings as well as building core strength. To get the most out of this workout you’ll want to make sure you’re doing it in a controlled and slow manner to fully engage your muscles.

Squats

Squats are an easy exercise to do for some at-home training as they don’t require much space and are great for building strength in your legs. To do a squat make sure your legs are shoulder-width apart and hold out your hands in front of you for balance or hold some weights for an extra challenge. Bend your knees and lower body as if you were going to sit on a chair, trying not to let your knees go past your toes, and then come back up again. For the best posture keep your back as straight as possible when doing this exercise as this will help you to see better results in the long run.

Doing squats regularly can help you to run faster and jump higher when you’re on the field. Squats improve balance and posture, as well as mobility and core strength, but one of the biggest pluses of doing squats is that they strengthen your bones and the tendons around your muscles. This can take tension off of your knees and ankles which helps prevent injuries, making them a must-do exercise for football training. 

Solo football drills to practise at home

Now it’s time to practise those football drills. When you do your solo practises at home you’ll get much more time with the ball - no more waiting in line as all your teammates take their turns. You get to make the most of your drill time so that you can see the results you’re after much quicker. Start enhancing your routine by trying out these football drills at home.

Practise your shooting

An accurate shot could be the decider between winning and losing, so it's worth dedicating some of your home football practice time to drilling your shooting skills. Fully adaptable to the equipment you have to hand, you can practise at home with a goal if you have one or, if you don’t, you can use some cones or place some stones down to give yourself a target to shoot toward. This will help you to work on your aim and you can move the cones closer and closer to make it more challenging. If you’re looking to test your skills, you can put a single cone down and practise hitting it. Make an activity out of it by taking a step back every time you successfully hit the cone, and a step closer when you miss. This will help develop your aim ready for group training.

How to practise dribbling at home

Dribbling will help you develop your control and skills using the different parts of your foot to guide the ball. There are many ways you can practise dribbling at home. You can do some cone weaving by setting up cones into many different patterns and shapes such as figure 8s and zig zags, and dribbling the ball between them to train up your control and balance. As you practise it will start getting easier which means that you’ll need to work up more of a challenge over time. You can put the cones closer together and try to set time limits to keep on top of your dribble game.

You can also try one-foot dribbling as a way to focus on controlling the ball with different parts of your foot which will help greatly on the pitch. After enough practice with one-foot dribbling, it will become second nature to guide the ball as you move.

Wall passes

Walls are a great way to practise football drills at home alone and you can achieve varying results depending on what your focus is. Wall passes are a great way to practise the strength of your kicks and train your leg muscles, but there are a few different manoeuvres that you can practise with a wall as well. For example; you can practise ‘give and go’ - this involves hitting the ball back and forth between yourself and a teammate in rapid succession to bypass the defence. To emulate this at home you hit the ball against a wall at an angle and it will bounce back farther away from you. It’s fantastic for practice as it will simulate running down a pitch and passing to your teammate. 

You can practise your stops with a wall as well by kicking the ball towards the wall, and when it bounces back practice stopping it with your foot rather than hitting it back. This is a key skill when on the pitch, as it gives you more control over changing the direction of play after receiving a pass from a teammate.

These are just a few of the solo football drills that you can practise with a wall at home. You can get many more uses from an ordinary wall, and they will soon become your favourite piece of training equipment.

Get a football rebounder

Getting a football rebounder is a great way to do your football training alone. A rebounder bounces the ball back to you and will have a much more powerful bounce than it would if you were hitting it against the wall. This makes it great for practising your reflexes and goal-keeping skills. The bounce from the rebounder will send the ball back at you quickly so you will have to think fast and move fast, just like you would on the pitch, making it an essential piece of at-home training equipment.

Get the right kit for practising football with Avec Sport

If you want to get pitch-ready, you’ll have to make sure you practise all areas of football, from core strengthening to wall passes. Even if you plan to train from home, it’s always a good idea to get some advice and help from your coach and teammates if you want to improve your performance. Talking to your team can help you understand what you need to focus on and is an easy way to get some tips on how to improve.

You’ll also want to make sure you have the right kit for both on the field and in practice. If you want to enhance your performance and make sure you’re ready for all-weather then view our high-performance sportswear from Avec Sport. Here, you’ll find everything from football accessories and socks to goalkeeper attire and jerseys.