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If you're looking to step up your game in football, you must be doing your own work outside of team practice.
Too many players rely on team trainings that they only have 2-3 times a week to develop them as players, and don't do any training outside of practice besides play around with a few friends.
And don't get me wrong, simply playing football and having small pick-up games is a great way to develop as a footballer. Just look at players like Ben Arfa, who developed their quickness with the ball through playing small 5-a-side games in his hometown in France.
However, this doesn't mean you shouldn't be working individually on your technique and physicality. The top professional players in the world of football got to the level they are at because they put in quality hours of individual training, as well as being trained up by their respected academies.
If you're looking to become a better player, possibly the best in your team, or the best in your league, then you have to do what the other 99% aren't willing to do.
You have to be willing to have to get up at dawn just so you can get to the field before class and get an hour of training in. You have to be willing to train in cold, icy weather when everybody else chooses to stay inside where it's warm, and binge Netflix.
By training individually, and being the hardest worker in your team, earning your minutes on the field, and learning from your performances and trainings, over time, you will develop tremendously as a player, and get more opportunities to move up the ladder.
But many people unfortunately don't know what to do when training individually.
They don't know where to start. They don't know what to work on, what drills to do, what order to do the drills in, and how they can improve with them.
Maybe you're one of these players. You've stumbled across my content (or maybe someone else's content), see all of these awesome drills that you want to try, but don't know when or how to do them so that you can improve as a player.
Well in this article, you will learn the best way to structure your individual training sessions, so that you can improve by yourself and become the best player wherever you're playing.
How to Structure An Individual Session
There are many different ways to structure an individual session, and to be 100% real with you, there isn't a set structure you should follow.
The way you train is very personal and specific to you and what you want to work on.
However, this doesn't change the fact that you don't know where to start or what to work on when you are training. So it helps to have a guideline or some sort of example for you to see and follow, that way you can have a better idea of how you should be training when you decide to start making your individual training more personalized.
Here's a good structure of a balanced training session that you can follow 3-6 times a week in order to get the most out of your training:
1) Start with 10 to 20 minutes of ball mastery, first touch, or juggling drills ~ The reason why we're starting with ball control drills is to sharpen your touch, and to be able to work and improve the foundations of football.
You can't do the fancy or the advanced drills and plays without first having a solid foundation; a foundation is built through mastering the simple things. Here are some excellent ball mastery drills you can try to start off your session:
If you are interested in a full Ball Mastery Training program that progressively challenges you and your manipulation of the ball, then check out our 4-WEEK BALL MASTERY PROGRAM.
2) Spend 20-30 Minutes Working on Your Weaknesses ~ After spending some quality time working on the foundations and sharpening your touch, next, you're going to want to work on the aspects of your game that you are weak on, and that are holding you back from being a better player.
For example, if you think you're not good at making long passes or driven balls, then spend some time working on your technique and trying to perfect it wit each and every kick.
Or if you think that you're not good at dribbling with speed and control, then spend a quality amount of time practicing being able to effectively take a touch of the ball with every step at full speed.
By working on the areas of your games that you need to improve on, you will become a more complete footballer, which is something that will help you find opportunities with teams and coaches who are looking for players who can fulfill their role with perfection.
Make sure to check our Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for a variety of drills that you can try to improve any area of your game you might be struggling with.
3) Spend 20-30 Minutes Working On Your Strengths ~ Now that you've worked on setting your foundation and improving what you're weak on, now it's time to work on your strengths.
But why work on something I'm already good at? You might be asking yourself.
If you look at world-class professionals such as Ronaldo, Messi, De Bruyne, Lewandowski, etc., they all have a special trait or skill that sets them apart from other professionals in their teams, and their leagues.
Messi is exceptional at and known for his dribbling ability and close control.
Ronaldo is known for his ability to score headers and have exceptional finishing ability.
De Bruyne is known for having an exceptional talent to find ways to create chances and set his teammates up to score.
If you want to be a reliable player on your team, and have a better chance to perform well in your games, and have better chances to be seen and scouted, it would help if you were a master at a certain aspect of your game.
For example, if you're a midfielder, maybe you're special trait is your passing range and ability to play key passes.
Or if you're a winger, maybe your special trait is being able to beat a player 1 on 1 almost 100% of the time, and get a cross or shot in.
Special traits are developed through constant repetition and practice. So spending some time in each of your sessions perfecting this special skill will help you to perform them in a game.
If I were to tell you what I personally work on as my strength, it would have to be my dribbling and ability to maintain control at speed.
By constantly practicing and perfecting my speed dribbling, I can perform this skill more effectively in a game which will not only help my team when we're on a counter, but it will help me perform better and possibly be noticed for my performance.
Whatever you feel your strength is, spend some time perfecting it at training, and make it your strongest characteristic as a football player.
4) 10-20 Minutes of Optional Fitness, or Speed Work
In the modern game, athleticism is extremely important, almost as much as the technical side is.
Although you can argue that you can squeak by the larger, tougher, and stronger players by technique alone, and bring up the likes of Iniesta, Messi, Pirlo, etc., even these players are more athletic than your average semi-professional or even professional.
If you want to move up the football ladder, coaches and teams will take your fitness and your athleticism into account when deciding whether or not you fit into their system.
Even if you are that diamond in the rough, and you can dribble out the whole team and score, if you can't perform that at the highest level for a full 90 minutes, and you're constantly being dispossessed from 50/50 balls, then you will be looked over by scouts and coaches.
Doing 10-20 minutes of high intensity interval training, or some SAQ drills at the end of your session (or the beginning if that's what you prefer) consistently, will help you reach match-fitness and become more athletic over-time.
Of course, the word 'optional' is up there, and the reason why the fitness work is optional, is because on some days, you might want to keep the training at a lower intensity because you feel fatigued or overworked.
It's all about listening to what your body is telling you. If your body is warning you that doing the fitness work will injure you, then listen to it.
But don't make excuses that your body is too tired or that you feel overworked, simply because you want to avoid the fitness work, because the only person that's holding you back from becoming a better player, is yourself.
If you'd like some speed drills to help you get fitter and faster as a footballer, check out this YouTube video:
If you'd like to know more on how to develop your speed as a footballer, then check out our FREE SPEED GUIDE.
5) 10 Minute Cool Down ~ Once you have finished your training session, it's important that you spend at least 5 minutes cooling down your body.
This is important to help you avoid injury, and if it is neglected, you might be at high risk of tightness and pains after your session.
A good way to cool down is to do a light jog and lap the field once, and then finish off with some static stretching.
Best Way to Improve In Your Trainings
Now that you have a guideline on how your individual training sessions should look like, now it's time to put it into action.
The structure provided above is an excellent way to include many different aspects of your performance in a deliberate training session, however, there is one thing that causes many people to not see any improvement even when their trainings look like this.
That one issue is a lack of consistency. You cannot expect to improve in a certain part of your game, or anything for that matter, if you do not consistently work on that area or field.
There's no point to having a structured training session if you only do it once or twice a week, then your other sessions are all hell and not deliberate.
The point of individual trainings is to work on yourself consistently, so that your body is able to adapt to whatever weaknesses that is holding you back.
Make sure that you are staying consistent with your trainings, and tracking your progress overtime, to see optimal improvement as a footballer and be able to become the best player you can be.
I hope this helps you with whatever goals you have! if you have any other questions feel free to leave a comment down below or shoot me a DM on Instagram, and I'll try my best to get back to you!
Thanks for Reading! Alex from GoGrind Soccer signing off...
Get Up. Go GRIND.
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