To make it harder, you can increase the distance between the grids and also get the players to do passes in the air to one another, thereby testing their long-distance passing and chest and thigh control. Set a specific time or target for the players or one another before starting out on the exercise. In pairs, players test out their one-touch passing, paying close attention to the weight and accuracy of the pass.

The player with the ball kicks it to their partner who passes it back with just one touch. Whenever they pass the ball, the player moves towards their partner, thereby narrowing the gap. They do this until they get too close to each other at which point they start backing away from each other each time they make a pass. In this way, the players practice their one-touch passing over a variety of distances and so have to calculate just how much power to put behind it each time.

To make it more challenging, you can make players practice with only their weaker foot or increase the starting distance from one another.

Another option is to get them to play the ball to each other in the air but give them one touch to control it and get it out from under their feet. With this drill, both players take it in turns to shoot at goal and improve their finishing skills and goalscoring abilities.

Players can shoot from a stationary position, on the run, or with one touch and either finesse or power it past the keeper. One player stands in front of the goal and is the goalkeeper while the other player stands at the edge of the box and is the shooter. From the edge of the box, the shooter can either choose to shoot the ball from a stationary position or pass it in front of them before hitting it on the run.

They can choose to either try and power it past the keeper by striking it with their laces or go for accuracy and curl or finesse it instead. Once the keeper has the ball, either from saving it or picking it out of the back of the net, they can then roll it to the edge of the box for the shooter to strike it in one go.

In this way, they get to try out a number of different shooting techniques, working on their power and accuracy. The goalkeeper can also throw it back to them in the air so that the player can practise volleying the ball too.

After taking ten shots, the players switch over so both get a chance being the keeper and shooter. Simple mistakes occur when players are tired and this is often when the fitter team capitalises and ruthlessly punishes any sloppy pass or slip of concentration. By working on your cardio, you'll be able to greatly improve your performances as you remain fitter, fresher, and focused for longer, as well as be more dynamic and explosive in your play.

Here are a couple of great cardio workouts that you can combine with your soccer practices. Being agile and quick on your feet is a very useful attribute to have in soccer as it allows you to turn quickly and burst away from your marker. Here are some great exercises which you can incorporate into your soccer workouts at home. A great way to improve your footwork and agility at the same time is to use an agility ladder during your workout.

There are loads of different drills you can work through which help to improve your coordination and balance, technique, and touch. Without the ball, sprint through the agility ladder, making sure to take short, sharp steps with each foot landing within each square. After this, start to one side of the agility ladder and shuffle your way in and out of it, again taking short, sharp steps to either side with both feet landing within the square.

Try and do these as quickly as possible as the two exercises help with your footwork, speed, agility, and explosiveness. To make it more challenging, you can incorporate jumping exercises into the workout or dribble a ball from side to side through the rungs of the agility ladder. As well as strengthening your glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves, box jumps also help increase your speed, power, and athleticism.

You then want to bend into a quarter squat, swing your arms back, and then explosively push up off of the ground and spring onto the box, bringing your arms forward at the same time to propel you forward. Your landing should look almost the same as your starting quarter squat position with your knees bent and your arms in front for balance. To increase the difficulty, simply choose a higher box or step which will then require you to put more power into your jump. Aside from improving your cardiovascular fitness and raising your heartbeat, mountain climbers also strengthen your core, hamstrings, and glutes.

Set yourself up in a plank position with your weight evenly distributed between your hands and toes which should both be set around shoulder-width apart. Once you have the correct starting position, begin by pulling your right knee as far as possible to your chest. After that, you bring it back down while simultaneously bringing your left knee up as you switch over. As you alternate between the two, make sure to keep your hips down and to push your knees in and out as quickly as possible and as far towards your chest as you can.

While the idea is the same, instead of bringing one leg back before bringing the other one up, you simply jump and switch between the two. Try and do the mountain climbers three times for thirty seconds, slowly increasing the length of time that you do them.

Due to the nature of the sport, soccer players have to not only be incredibly fit but also have a turn of pace about them. Players, therefore, need to have the stamina to last the whole ninety minutes while also having the speed to get into good positions. These conditioning exercises can be done at home, in your local neighbourhood, or at a nearby sports ground. A great addition to your soccer workouts. As soccer players need to be able to both sprint forward and backpedal into position quickly, this exercise is perfect for practicing both and simulates match situations.

Starting at cone one, sprint to the third cone, making sure to pump your knees up to produce force with your weight on the balls of your feet. You then backpedal until cone two before switching again and sprinting forwards to cone four. When backpedaling, make sure to keep focused, not trip over, and take quick glances over your shoulder to see where you are. From cone four, you backpedal again until cone three before finally sprinting forwards once again past cone five to complete the drill.

To vary it up, you can always set cones to either side of the main line so that you have to backpedal or sprint at an angle. You can also put a ball on each cone and pass it to a teammate or friend when you arrive at each one.

As we already know, soccer is not just about sprinting and stamina but also about how quickly you can react and change direction. This drill helps with both of those things while also improving your acceleration, agility, and athleticism. For this drill, you need to set up four cones in a square with one cone right in the middle. This is meant to test your reactions and ability to accelerate in any direction at just a moment's notice.

To make it more interesting, you can always incorporate a ball into the drill which you have to keep at your feet as you sprint between the cones. This tests not only your control and concentration but your conditioning and cardio too.

By mixing sprints in with recovery runs and jogging, it mimics the pace of a real match and greatly enhances your endurance. All you need for this drill is a full-sized soccer pitch and possibly a friend and ball to keep you motivated! You can then slowly jog along the goal line until the opposite side of the pitch, recovering and regaining your breath as you go. You then run at fifty percent til the halfway line before you sprint to the other side of the pitch.

To make it more fun and to test your concentration and ball control skills, you can always do the drill with a ball at your feet. Another option is to do the drill with a friend, passing it between yourselves to test your touch, technique, and ball control.

While you don't need the physique of Cristiano Ronaldo to impact and decide tight games, working on your strength, power, and explosivity will help you to become a better player. By honing your physique and putting on a bit of muscle, you'll be able to hold off opponents and strike the ball farther and more powerfully than before. In addition to this, spending a bit of time in the gym will help reduce the likelihood of you suffering an injury while also improving your agility, speed, and balance.

Here are a couple of soccer workouts you can do in the gym or at home that will help you maximise your talents out on the pitch. The stronger your legs are, the more powerful you'll be able to strike the ball and the longer you'll remain fit and fresh out on the pitch.

You can easily do this workout at home, at the gym, or wherever you have space and time. This exercise works out your glutes and hamstrings and strengthens your lower back and increases your hip mobility at the same time. You then want to lift your hips off of the ground until your knees, hips, and shoulders form a straight line. So as not to injure yourself, slowly peel your back off the ground as you raise your hips, squeeze your glutes, and tense your abs; this all relieves the pressure on your back.

The exercise is done in exactly the same way only this time, one leg is stretched out straight into the air while the other foot is flat on the floor, raising your hips and body by itself. Squats are a great exercise do to that strengthen your quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves as well as your buttocks and increases your hip flexibility. As you lower yourself into the squat, you want to keep your chest up, tense your abs and push your hips back into a sitting position.

Keep lowering your hips until your thighs are parallel to the ground and your knees are above your toes. If this is too easy, you can always add weights to make it harder, either clasping a safe weight to your chest and descending into the squat with it or by holding a weight directly above your head as you do the squat. Alternatively you could always do a jump squat which involves exactly the same movement as the basic squat, the only difference being that you propel yourself upwards and into the air in between squats.

As well as improving your mobility and stability, lunges also help to strengthen your glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings. You then slowly lower your body until the thigh of the leg you stepped forward with is parallel to the ground. Your shin and knee should be upright above your toes with the knee of your other leg nearly touching the floor. To push back up into your starting position, press into your right heel to rise up again.

If this is too easy, then you can always make it tougher by holding dumbells in either hand as you do the lunge. Another alternative is to do jumping lunges which is when you do exactly the same movement outlined above, but as you push upwards, you explosively jump before landing in a lunge with your other leg.

This exercise not only strengthens your calves but lowers your risk of injury and improves your stability. Slowly lift your heels off of the ground, flexing your calf muscles as you do, raising all of your body straight up into the air. At the highest point, hold your position for a moment before slowly lowering your heels back to the ground. To make the exercise more challenging, start with the front of your feet on a step so that your calf muscle has to do more work lifting you up from a lower position.

Although sometimes overlooked by soccer players, upper body exercises are well worth doing as these allow you to hold off opponents easier and so create time and space for yourself out on the pitch. Strengthening your core is also a good idea as this will help you to improve your balance and stability and refrain from injuring yourself.

These exercises can be done either at home or at the gym and will greatly improve your core and upper body strength. You can't go wrong with push-ups as these strengthen your arm and chest muscles, don't need any equipment, and can be done anywhere and anytime. Start off face-down with your feet together and your hands palms-down, roughly shoulder width apart. Your body should be in a straight line with your toes curling upwards and the balls of your feet touching the ground.

Once in this position with your weight being supported by your hands and feet, raise yourself up using your arms. The correct form should see you using your abs to keep your body in line and straight as you do the push-up. To vary things up and keep things interesting, place your hands wider apart when doing the push-up to work out your chest more. Alternatively put your hands together, forming a diamond shape, to engage your triceps or put your legs on a step to make the push-up more challenging.

This exercise works out your chest, triceps, and abs, greatly strengthening your physique so you can more easily hold off your opponents. Start off by sitting on the edge of a chair or sofa or use the appropriate equipment if you're in the gym! Place both palms of your hand firmly on the seat behind you and extend your legs out in front of you.

After that, lever yourself off of the chair with your hands and dip your body down in front of the chair with your feet remaining on the ground. If this is too easy, try and do the dips holding onto the back of two chairs with your legs pulled up below you.

In addition to strengthening your abs and core, v-ups are great for improving your balance and coordination. Start off lying on your back with your arms extended above your head with your legs together and your toes pointing away from you.

As the name indicates, you then want to create a V shape by raising your legs and upper body simultaneously towards each other. Keeping your legs straight and your toes pointed away from you, you want to lift them and reach towards them with your outstretched arms at the same time.

If you play two games a week, keep a single rest day and set up your other four days for workouts, he advises. The U. Fitness coach Pierre Barrieu schedules daily weightlifting to prevent injuries in the run-up to events such as the World Cup. A warmup and dynamic stretching needs to precede every workout; allow 10 to 12 minutes for that before continuing with your strength work.

Dynamic stretching finds more favor among college coaches such as Gatz than static stretching, which requires you to flex or extend your limbs and hold the stretch for 30 seconds.

Jogging, side shuffles, forward lunges, skipping, Spiderman crawls and the carioca or grapevine step warm and stretch your muscles dynamically for a safer workout. Circuit training from station to station in a gym allows you to work on your strength and endurance as the centerpiece of your workout routine.

Gatz recommends performing five exercises each in four soccer-specific circuit workouts that address the lower body, the upper body, the total body and core. Your coach or trainer can help tailor a circuit for you and provide a card listing exercises, sets, reps and weights. Barrieu recommends 15 exercises to strength the body, especially the legs and core, with an eye toward injury prevention.

Single-leg reaches and the front bridge work on the core.