11 Best Soccer Prehab Exercises to Stay Injury-Free
What if the key to staying injury-free isn’t avoiding contact, but preparing your body to handle whatever the game throws at you? Nowadays, soccer injuries are more common than ever before, which is why it is crucial to recover properly off the field and do the right injury prevention work with the best soccer prehab exercises.
Soccer is such an intense, fast-paced contact sport that demands a lot of talent, tactical IQ, mindset, athleticism, and fitness, but this high level of physical demand also comes with an increased risk of injury. At all levels of the game, even at the youth level now, injuries are very common and can be categorized as contact or non-contact injuries.
Contact injuries happen due to collisions, tackles, or awkward falls, while non-contact injuries result from poor movement mechanics, muscle imbalances, or bad preparation on and off the field. Generally speaking, players should be able to avoid most non-contact injuries, except when playing in bad field conditions, and the damage of contact injuries can be minimized as much as possible if players follow the proper training and recovery protocols.
As a graduate of kinesiology: rehab science, soccer trainer, sports coordinator, and amateur player, I’ve experienced a few injuries myself and have tried various methods, from different training programs and exercises to lifestyle changes, to seeking help from experts, to see what truly helps the healing process the most. With that being said, I can confidently say that the most important things to do when coming back from injuries, preventing them in the first place, becoming a better player, and getting in soccer shape, include getting high-quality sleep, aligning your circadian rhythms, staying hydrated, eating the right foods, using NNEMF protection products, and spending time barefoot to benefit from grounding therapy.
Beyond these fundamentals, players should also use natural recovery techniques and consistently perform the soccer injury prevention exercises below to build strength, stability, and resilience to injuries.
What are the Best Soccer-Specific Prehab Exercises?
The best soccer prehab exercises will only deliver results if you perform them consistently with proper form while optimizing all the other aspects of performance and recovery mentioned above. Injury prevention exercises alone aren’t enough because most injuries are a result of multiple interconnected factors, such as poor movement mechanics, an imbalanced fascia system, dysfunctional breathing patterns, poor mitochondrial function, or a disrupted circadian rhythm.
The exercises below are different from the mainstream injury prevention drills because they focus on restoring your body’s natural movement intelligence and fascial integration rather than simply strengthening isolated muscles, which is why they’re more effective at building the resilience and athleticism needed to stay injury-free throughout an entire season.
Self-Myofascial Release
One of the best recovery techniques for any footballer is self-myofascial release, which is a form of self-massage. Some of the best self-myofascial release tools to invest in, which are not only easy to use and fit into your soccer bag, but also help break up knots, are lacrosse balls, spiky balls, and tennis balls.
To perform this exercise, grab a ball above, instead of a foam roller, which is not as effective because the larger surface area doesn’t allow for centralized pressure. Choose a body part, and roll out by applying direct pressure to tender spots and tight areas around it.
Kettle Feet
Kettle feet, which involves standing barefoot on the top of a kettle, through the handles, can act as both a self-myofascial release and a strengthening exercise because the kettlebells create external pressure along the bottom of the foot, which wakes up the feet and forces your entire body to engage and stabilize.
Start by standing on two kettlebells at a time for 1 to 5 minutes, and as you build up tolerance and strength to that external pressure, you can transition to one foot at a time.
Towel Toe Retractions
The towel toe retraction exercise is important to teach players how to regain the ability to retract their toes if they have lost it due to modern shoes, poor lifestyle choices, and simply not spending time barefoot. To perform this exercise, grab a thick towel, stand on the towel with both feet, choose one foot, and raise the heel while pushing down through the ball of the foot and keeping tension in the arch of the foot.
Also, keep the foot and ankle complex “locked” with tension, retract your toes, which means bend at the middle toe joint, and scrunch the towel towards you.
Single Leg Balance with Eyes Closed
This exercise is pretty straightforward and helps build unilateral balance, which is crucial for soccer since everything you do is basically on one leg, whether that is running or kicking the ball. Time yourself and see how long you can remain balanced on one foot without dropping your other foot and with your eyes closed.
The goal is to reach one minute minimum with full control and without wobbling or bouncing all over the place.
Leg Swings While Holding Marble
This exercise builds on single-leg balance work and develops the ability to maintain ankle stability through fascial tension while moving your leg dynamically through space, all while staying fully balanced on the standing leg. This movement pattern is crucial for soccer players because it mimics the coordination required during kicking, sprinting, and quick direction changes when one leg is planted and the other is in motion.
ISO Calf Raise Isometric on Ball of Foot with Elevated Heels
This isometric exercise involves standing barefoot with your heels elevated, rising onto the ball of your foot, and holding that position for 2-5 minutes to build strength and fascial integration throughout the entire body. Although this looks like just a simple calf raise, the point is to get into your glute by positioning the ribs slightly in front of the hips and holding the tension in your entire back chain.
This position helps build strength in the ball of your feet, which is critical for soccer players since nearly all explosive movements, sprinting, jumping, cutting, and accelerating, require a powerful push-off from this exact position
Barefoot Hops on Ball of Foot with Elevated Heels
Building on the isometric calf raise, this dynamic plyometric exercise involves performing small, controlled hops on the ball of your foot while your heels remain elevated, which trains explosive power, reactive strength, and elastic recoil in the ankles, calves, and entire posterior chain. Doing this exercise barefoot also improves proprioception and teaches your feet to absorb and generate force naturally, developing the spring-like quality needed for basically all soccer actions on the field.
Deep Pressure Therapy
Deep pressure therapy is performed by placing weighted objects, such as a sandbag, on the chest while lying flat on your back in a relaxed position for 5-15 minutes. This technique applies gentle, sustained pressure that activates the parasympathetic nervous system, promotes relaxation, reduces stress hormones, and improves recovery by calming the body’s fight-or-flight response.
The weighted pressure also improves breathing mechanics by encouraging deeper diaphragmatic breathing and can help release tension in the chest and ribcage area that accumulates from high-intensity physical activity.
Breath Belt Breathing
The Breath Belt teaches a similar concept to Deep Pressure therapy that helps players develop 360-degree breathing awareness by ensuring proper expansion of the entire torso, front, sides, and back, rather than just shallow chest breathing that many athletes default to under stress. To perform this exercise, it is best to have the specific Breath Belt, but you could use something similar, like a regular belt or resistance band, to create a similar effect.
When starting off, simply wearing the belt and breathing normally throughout your day can help build awareness of proper breathing mechanics, and then you can progress to dedicated breathing sessions with the belt.
Barefoot Walking (on Uneven Terrains)
Walking barefoot on uneven surfaces like grass, sand, or gravel not only strengthens the feet, ankles, and lower legs by engaging intrinsic muscles that modern shoes often neglect, but it can also act as light fitness work and expose you to “Grounding Therapy,” which allows electrons from the earth to transfer into your body, reducing inflammation, improving circulation, and improving overall recovery.
Resting Positions (Seiza)
Seiza, a traditional Japanese sitting posture where you kneel with your legs folded under you, enhances ankle mobility, knee strength, and spinal alignment. It helps counteract the negative effects of prolonged chair sitting, improving posture and flexibility. If the position is too uncomfortable at first, use a cushion for support and build tolerance over time.
Final Thoughts
Soccer prehab exercises are the foundation for long-term performance and injury prevention, helping soccer players protect their muscles, knees, and ankles from common injuries like hamstring strains and ACL tears. By integrating these soccer-specific prehab exercises into your training routine, you’ll improve single-leg stability, flexibility, and correct mechanics that support quick feet, agility, and explosive power. Remember, staying consistent with your prehab program is the best way to perform at your peak, avoid setbacks, and enjoy playing soccer pain-free all season.
FAQs
What are the best soccer prehab exercises to prevent soccer injuries?
The best soccer prehab exercises include the choices on this list because they all focus on strengthening the neurofascia / neuromuscular systems, improving balance, and building isometric strength, which can then be used during more advanced agility, plyometric, and conditioning drills.
How can I improve my agility and speed for playing soccer?
To improve your speed and agility for soccer, you must first build a strong foundation by strengthening your body’s fascial integration, foot strength, and movement mechanics through prehab exercises like the ones on this list. Once you’ve developed proper balance, ankle stability, and body awareness, you can then progress to explosive speed and agility training that will actually translate to better performance on the field.
Why is balance training important in soccer prehab?
Balance training is the foundation for soccer success because everything you do in soccer—running, kicking, cutting, jumping—happens on one leg at a time, making unilateral stability crucial for both performance and injury prevention. Exercises like single-leg balance with eyes closed strengthen the ankles, knees, and hips while improving proprioception, which reduces the risk of common soccer injuries like ankle sprains and ACL tears.
