How Much Training is Enough?
The three pro players on our Techne Team often get asked, “How much did you train on your own growing up?” The answer for the three of us is “a lot.” But that can mean something different for everyone. Obviously, how much individual training is impacted by personal motivation, as well as time availability, priorities, and guidance from coaches and parents. But it’s also something that can be calculated via other, more concrete factors. When you train with the Techne App you can see how much you’re training over time, build a training streak, and have a guide for every day of your training. Get a 7-day free trial of the Techne Futbol app and 10% off your first purchase using code BLOG.
Here are some guiding thought processes to help you know how much extra training you want to consider doing, depending on your age, level, and goals as a player.
- Focus on consistency over volume. The reason we have you track your time in the Techne app is so you can see it accrue as you progress. Your training should be something you commit to doing every week throughout the year. For more serious players, it will be every day. So it is important to commit to an amount that you can do consistently. You can use our Track page to decide how much you want to train each week and schedule the days/times you’ll get it done. That way, you can hold yourself accountable to regularly hit your target.
- Consider your age and level. As you get older and more serious as a player, your individual training will increase and also become more serious and focused. It’s important to consider that as you get more serious, you’ll likely have more team training sessions as well. Finding time for your consistent individual work is key. Below is a very general guide as to what we at Techne think is minimally necessary for each level of player, in addition to group training sessions and games. We recommend breaking up this time over the days within a week that you don’t have group sessions. Remember, if you have a week with extra group sessions or games, you may need to scale back. Whereas if you have a down period with less organized play, you may want to do more.
Beginning or recreational level players: 15-30 minutes/week
Early stage competitive players: 1 hour/week
Elite youth players (ECNL, GA, MLSNext, etc.): 3-4 hours/week
College off-season: 7 hours/week
Pro off-season: 10 hours/week - Train to be a complete athlete/player. Especially for older and more advanced players, individual training does not just mean working on skill repetition. In addition to technical training, here are some of the types of individual work you should be attending to:
Functional Technical
Strength
Speed/Agility
Fitness
Mental Training
Tactical/Game Analysis - Adjust your training seasonally. This is done differently for various levels and teams. Many college and pro players use the Techne app in their off-season, when they have ample time for individual work. During a college or pro season, players may show up early to training or stay after to do a bit of extra individual work, since teams on this level train every day. At this level, the off-season is when you do the majority of work on your own. For youth players, teams often train only 2-3 times a week and throughout the entire year, so it’s vital that you’re regularly training on your own all year long. You may ramp it up, or scale back, depending on your team’s schedule.
- Recovery is part of training. We recommend taking a long-term approach to your training, which includes making sure you’re getting enough rest and recovery, including sleep! That’s how your training benefits get absorbed by the body and how to prevent burnout. Your recovery should be scheduled into your training plan purposefully. Obviously, the more intense your training, the more recovery you’ll need. You should make sure that both your body and mind regularly get a break. But that doesn’t always mean just a complete break. Some light technical work, like juggling or our Techne living room sessions, are a great way to still improve while avoiding physical or mental stress. Not sure “how to recover as a soccer player?” << Check out our post!
At Techne, we believe in making vital individual training more accessible and fun with a goal of improving, developing your skills as well as your love of the game.
