Best Daily Routine for Soccer Players: 9 Game-Changing Habits
You can’t out-train a bad daily routine. Becoming the best version of yourself as a soccer player starts with building a daily routine built on clear goals, discipline, and a passion for improving daily.
While most players focus mainly on their physical training sessions, elite athletes know that what happens before and after practice, from the minute they wake up until the minute they fall asleep, determines who actually reaches their full potential and who stays average. The routines outlined below aren’t just suggestions; they’re the non-negotiables that will help you become a better player and improve the most important aspects of player development: talent, game IQ, mindset, athleticism, fitness, recovery, and discipline.
Every morning routine, training routine, and sleeping routine builds upon the last one, creating exponential progress that transforms your technical skills, mental toughness, and physical conditioning over time. Remember that small wins compound into massive results, but only if you’re consistent.
As a graduate of kinesiology: rehab science, soccer player, trainer, and sports coordinator, I’ve tried all types of morning, afternoon, and nighttime routines, and in the sections below, you’ll find practical tips and advice you can start using today to support your training, recovery, and performance on and off the field.
What are the Best Routines for Soccer Players to Achieve Peak Performance?
Morning Routine for Soccer Players
Your morning routine determines how you perform for the rest of the day, and it dictates your energy, focus, and performance, which means you need to win the morning to win the day. The first and most important step to your morning routine is to wake up at or just before sunrise.
Once you wake up, go outside, get grounded on natural land by taking your shoes off, see the sunrise, and get sunlight on your eyes and skin. This morning light, which is rich in natural red light, will help regulate your circadian rhythm, boost energy, and even help produce melatonin to help you sleep better later that night.
It is also important to go on a morning walk, ideally barefoot if the weather allows, or get some sort of movement outside to wake up your body, improve blood flow, and start the day feeling grounded and refreshed. Once you come back inside, it’s time to get hydrated because you’ve gone the whole night, 7-8 hours, without water or electrolytes.
One of the best ways to get hydrated first thing in the morning is by making a vegetable juice that consists of celery, lemon, and parsley. Once you drink your vegetable juice, you have to wait at least 30 minutes before you focus on nutrition, so in the meantime, you can do something productive, such as make your bed, take a shower, review your long-term and short-term goals, read books, write in a journal, do myofascial release work, or practice meditation or visualization.
After about 30 minutes of drinking the vegetable juice, it’s time to focus on high-quality nutrition. Eat a breakfast that consists mainly of fats and protein, such as grass-fed steak, pasture-raised eggs, and raw milk, and avoid processed foods high in sugar and refined carbohydrates like cereals, pastries, and white bread, which will cause energy crashes during training.
This is a very general guide, but it is a great place to start to help you become a more confident and disciplined soccer player. This routine will take about half an hour to an hour, but remember that investing this time every morning will set you up to train harder, recover faster, and stay focused throughout the rest of the day.
Afternoon and Evening Routines for Soccer Players
Depending on your goals, your age, job, transportation options, and time for training sessions, your afternoon routine can be completely up to you, but make sure it is productive, such as by doing one or a mix of the following.
- Work at your main job
- Work on side hustles to make extra money as a soccer player
- Run errands
- Football training – individual or with a team
- Bonding time with team
- Team or individual game video analysis
- Tactical training sessions
- Physical training, strength training, and/or injury prevention with good cool-down and warm-up exercises
- Use natural recovery techniques to speed up recovery
Nighttime Routine for Soccer Players
Your nighttime routine is just as important as your morning routine when it comes to improving both performance and recovery. A good night’s sleep helps soccer players recover physically and mentally, which is crucial for maintaining creativity and focus when playing.
As a footballer, make sure you’re getting at least 7-8 hours of high-quality sleep each night. Before bed, create a nighttime routine to help you fall asleep more easily and deeply by choosing any of the following actions, a mix of these, or using something else that works for you.
- See the sunrise in the morning
- Helps create natural melatonin, which helps you fall asleep faster at night when it’s released via the signal of darkness
- Wear blue light blockers after sunset
- Use red light and ambient light after sunset
- Perform breath-work
- Perform self-myofascial release
- Take a hot Epsom salt bath or hot shower
- Perform mental training
- Read books
- Listen to a podcast
- Plan for the next day
Game Day Routine for Soccer Players
On game day, the most important thing to know as a soccer player is that there is no secret game-day routine that is going to give you magical powers to perform that day. Real game-day performance and confidence come from having a morning, afternoon, and nighttime routine and following them consistently over a long period of time.
If you have been training consistently and taking care of the right things on and off the field every day, then there is nothing to worry about during the game, besides performing, because you already took care of the basics for the days, weeks, months, and years leading up to that moment.
With that being said, after taking care of the basics, you can still develop a unique game day routine or superstition that helps you feel calm and confident, whether it’s eating a certain meal, going on a walk at a specific place, listening to a favorite playlist, or visualizing your performance before you step onto the field.
Final Thoughts
To summarize, in this blog post, I explained the importance of developing daily routines for soccer players of all levels, from youth to professionals. I also gave you examples for high-quality morning, afternoon, and nighttime routines so that you can develop your own and start improving as a player on and off the field today.
FAQs
What should I do every day to get better at soccer?
To become a better soccer player, you need to improve at least 1% day, which comes from taking care of the right things on and off the field, training smart, and putting in hard work.
How many hours should I practice soccer a day?
Depending on what type of training you are doing, team training, individual training, or pickup sessions, the amount of training you do will vary. The important thing is to focus on the quality of your training and not quantity, which should force you to get into a flow state and use your creativity.
What are the best soccer recovery options for players?
The best soccer recovery options for players include high-quality soccer recovery equipment, effective injury prevention tools, and structured habits built through following consistent routines, from training routines and daily routines to morning routines that support performance and longevity. It is also important for players to invest in off-field recovery tools and in-game protective gear, such as compression gear, shin guards, supportive footwear like barefoot shoes, extra recovery accessories such as EMF protection for soccer players, and foundational support from soccer supplements to help the body recover, adapt, and stay resilient throughout the season.
