8 Best Training Tools and Equipment for Football Players and Athletes

Here are the best tools you can buy to improve your speed, explosiveness, and stay in shape.

The first thing to remember about training is that there is no magic pill, machine, or tool out there that is just going to make you better. It ultimately comes down to how much dedication you have and how hard you work. Now, if you’re willing to put the work in and push yourself, there are some tools that can help you along the way. Here is our list of the best f training equipment you can buy to keep working hard while you’re at home.

Here is our list of the best training equipment you can buy to keep working hard while you’re at home.

#1 Cones

Cones can be used in basically every drill you can imagine and will last a long time. Use them to set markers for yourself for sprints, or block off some grass at a park for yourself to train in. These are the basis of all coaching equipment.

#2 Agility Ladder

Using the agility ladder is great way to tune up your footwork. There are a bunch of drills you can do from the basic one foot, both feet run throughs, to the icky shuffle and many more. The main thing is to control your body as you move your feet through the tight spaces.

#3 Jump Rope

The jump rope is probably the most underrated training tool out there. It’s easily one of the best ways to work on your coordination, footwork, and endurance at the same time. A jump rope can be used to warm up, in between drills, or even as a cool down after a workout. There are a bunch of fancy ones out there, but any rope will do as long as it fits your height.

#4 Resistance Bands

The amount of exercises you can do with resistance bands are countless. They’re portable, light, and easy to incorporate into upper and lower body movements. Getting a good set that has different levels of resistance will also get you stronger once the other levels get easier. You can also stack multiple colors to get even more resistance.

#5 High Hurdles

Hurdles are not just for track runners, they are actually a great tool for working on lower body explosiveness. Jumping over hurdles works on every muscle in your lower body, and challenging yourself with greater heights forces you to transfer maximum power from your feet through your ankles, knees, and hips.

#6 Low Hurdles

High hurdles work on explosiveness, but low hurdles focus more on reaction time. A low hurdle is high enough (4-10 inches) that you have to jump to get over it, but low enough to force you to quickly reset for the next jump or movement, depending on which drill you’re doing. High and low hurdles can be used together for an effective explosive and reaction time workout.

#7 Reaction Ball

Some of you may have seen this one in pet stores, but it works just as well on humans. A reaction ball has lumps on it causing it to bounce it different directions once it hits a the ground or a wall. Using one of these helps with hand-eye coordination as well as reaction time since you have to react as fast as possible to get your body in front of the ball to make a catch.

#8 Speed Band

A speed band allows you to run with added resistance, forcing you to push harder with each stride, similar to pushing a sled. You can hook it up to a sturdy fence or pole, and use your cones to set markers to sprint to and jog back. You can also shuffle, backpedal, and even combine the two.

There will always be new tools and toys out there, but these are the best we’ve come across that have been around for a long time and will continue being used for years. If you pick up all or any of the items on this list, they will definitely last you until you either break them or stop training completely.

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