How To Train Solo

“If lockdown has taught us anything about ourselves, it is that we are a bloody resourceful bunch (…) So don’t let a lack of space or equipment stop you from smashing your goals and seeing improvement on the court.

This year has certainly been out of the ordinary. We have taken training onto zoom, completed more agility box drills than we care to count and coaches have had to be creative in how to coach their team without the court. It’s been hard, but we have got through it and, if you’re anything like me, you are probably fitter for it.

Coming back from injury in March, the time off has allowed me to focus on the fundamentals of my game, improve my ball skills, build strength and stability and work on my speed. All of which will help me to become a better, more formidable, player when we are eventually allowed back on the court. With a long background in coaching, I have found it easy, and quite fun, to find different ways to train alone but if you lack knowledge or even motivation, how do you know where to start? How do you train solo? and how do you ensure it’s effective?

Take a look at some of my tips for training solo below and don’t forget to check out the sessions on our YouTube and IG pages for sessions and drills to keep you busy no matter the weather.

1. Find your flow

Training solo can be daunting and it is sometimes the thought of a long session without much structure which puts us off of lacing our trainers and getting out there. Experimenting with HIIT training structures can help you to stay motivated through a session and make them more exciting and challenging as well.

You might enjoy timed periods of work and rest, or you might prefer to repeat exercise trying to beat your score each time. Whichever it is, mixing it up and recording your effort can help you to feel motivated to train and ensure that, when you are training, you are befitting from the exercise too. Give the following a try:

• AMRAP (As Many Rounds as Possible) – Set a timer and complete and repeat rounds of exercises as many times as you can in that time. Record, rest and go again – try and beat your score
• Work:Rest – Work for a length of time and rest for a set length of time (40:20 is a good go to). Decide on how many exercises and repetitions you are going to complete beforehand and you are all set. Want a challenge? Increase the work load and reduce the rest time!
• EMOM – Every Minute on the Minute – Challenge yourself to complete a set number of repetitions for an exercise every minute. When you complete the exercise, rest for the reminder of the minute before you go again!

2. Recognise your weaknesses

If we only every trained what we knew we were good at, we would never improve. Sit down and think about the things you lack on the court. Perhaps you are slow at getting out on the centre pass (suggesting you may need to work on your sprint starts), or perhaps you are unable to keep a steady shooting percentage in the final quarter of the game (perhaps you need to work on shooting under fatigue).

Once you have recognised your weaknesses, you can dedicate time in your training in order to work on them. Start slow though – just dedicating 10 minutes of your exercise to your weakness. As your fitness and confidence starts to grow, you can look to add more time dedicated to this type of training. You will start to see slow improvements, be able to progress your training and will therefore be more motivated to do better! Win, win!

3. Compete with yourself

We all love the game for different reasons, but there is no denying that we all love to win. The loss of competition, or complete lack of competition, can be the biggest demotivater when it comes to training. There are only so many times you can be motivated to go and train without an end goal in sight, so competing against yourself can help relieve this training boredom.

Set yourself challenges at the start of each month. This could be anything from shooting percentages, sprint times, ballwork times or anything else you fancy. Test yourself every 3-4 weeks and see how you have improved. You could even take the competition to your team chat and keep a leaderboard between you to really up the ante.

4. Vary your practice

We can all think of some ball and wall practices to keep us busy when training at home but if this all you have in your locker, you are very quickly going to become bored and disinterested in training.

Try to devote your sessions in the week to different focuses to keep your training varied. You might decide to do a speed interval run one day, ball work or shooting practice the next, and some agility and landing work at the weekend. Varying practice will not only help keep you interested in your training, but it will also benefit your body too. Constantly asking your body to adapt to the demands of training will help you to build speed and strength more quickly and helps to prevent fatigue caused by overtraining.

5. Organise your week

If you’ve been with me since the beginning you will know that I am an organising nut, but when it comes to training it really does help. Sit down every weekend and organise your training session around your work, school and social plans (if they are allowed).

By organising your training this way you can best utilise your time and won’t feel as though you are missing out on something just because you need to train, or on the other hand, you won’t feel guilty for skipping a session. Aim to start with three sessions a week making sure to complete training that is most likely to exhaust you (like a long run or a heavy agility session) for the weekend when you will have more time (and more daylight). Organise your week and all of a sudden, the thought of training before work or school won’t seem so terrifying but you’ll enjoy the reward of time instead.

Take a look at my ‘How to stay on track and organised‘ post for more Inspo. Alternatively, have a look at our online programme, CLUB NET, which will do all the organising for you!

6. Make the most of what you have

I don’t have a garden! I don’t have enough space! I live on the top floor of my building! I don’t have any equipment!

Does this sound like you?

If lockdown has taught us anything about ourselves, it is that we are a bloody resourceful bunch. So much so that gyms have seen a decline in their memberships as more people have realised that they can train just as effectively at home without the expense. So don’t let a lack of space or equipment stop you from smashing your goals and seeing improvement on the court.

From core work and indoor agility practice, there is lots you can do from the comfort of your home to help improve your game. Practice your aim by using socks, improve your core by completing ab workouts and improve your leg strength by using resistance bands and completing indoor workouts. Where there is a will, there is always a way.

And if you need more ideas, NET are always here to help. Check out our YouTube and IG channel for indoor friendly practices or have it all with a CLUB NET membership! #hereifyouneed