Football training: What is the best way to train for football

• If you want to be a top player, you need to master the best football training techniques
• Training goes beyond what you do with teammates while preparing for matches
• Anyone who wants to improve at football needs to work on their agility, which is simply the power of moving quickly and easily

If you want to be a top player, you need to master the best football training techniques. To start with, training goes beyond what you do with teammates while preparing for matches. Majority of top players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Neymar and Sergio Ramos have confirmed that they dedicate a few hours when at home to do more exercise.

When you train football alone, you get to know more about yourself as a player. You find out your weaknesses and put in more work to get better. Everybody knows Cristiano Ronaldo is a hard trainer, which is why he has remained at the top for a very long time. But apart from just putting in the work, the Portugal international knows the best training techniques to use.

With that introduction, let’s take a look at the best way to train for football.

Cristiano Ronaldo working out. Photo/ The Mirror.

1. Run and Run Again

As the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Football training starts by doing the basics and not the fancy, complicated exercises. Start by jogging to improve your stamina, general fitness, endurance and health.

Use an app to time yourself and ensure you work out everyday because most players fail here by stopping after just a few days. Footballers run most of the time when on the pitch so putting in the extra hard work outside the team training area will help improve your stamina and keep you going even when others are tiring out.

Also, practice interval running whereby you switch up the tempo of your run instead of running at one steady pace. If you’re running for 45 minutes, use five minutes for mid-tempo jogging, 30 seconds sprint, five minutes mid-tempo jogging and 30 seconds sprint.

2. Do Strength Training Exercises 

You need strength to play football. Some of the exercises which will help you become stronger are pushups, single-leg squats, chair dips and side lying.

Pushups will help strengthen your arms and chest, single-leg squats will work your legs and also help improve speed, chair dips will strengthen your triceps while side lying helps strengthen hip muscles and abs.

3. Drinking Enough Water And Get Proper Rest

Football training is not only about putting in the work but also taking a rest. As an athletes, your body needs to rest in order to perform. Get at least 8-9 hours of sleep, drink at least ten glasses of water everyday and avoid processed foods.

How To Improve At Football Quickly

Football training. Photo/ X.com.

Anyone who wants to improve at football needs to work on their agility, which is simply the power of moving quickly and easily. Below are some of the exercises you need to do to improve your agility:

• Shuttle runs – Shuttle runs are performed on the pitch using cones do not only help build agility but also power and endurance.
• Tuck jumps – Truck jumps can be done during training sessions with the rest of the team at home. They enhance explosive pace and power.
• Slalom – The slalom drill is best known for enhancing dribbling skills but it also improves agility.
• Ladder shuffle – For ladder shuffle you need a ladder and go through it as many times as you can. It helps enhance fast footwork.
• Box drill – The box drill helps strengthen your multi-directional speed and agility for football as you make sure you run within the box shaped by cones very fast.

How To Prepare A Football Training Session

Preparing for a football training session might be a difficult task if you’re not used to it. According to England Football Learning, whole-part-whole includes three sections. As a coach, starts with the whole team playing a game.

From there, divided the players into smaller groups so that they focus on a specific skill or running. The group sessions could be 2v2 or 3v3 or even 4v4. Finally, conclude the training session with another whole-group game.