Can anyone give me some ideas for training drills I could do on my own? I often don't have anyone to practice with but would like to do some. Thanks
If you have enough space you can practice serves. You can practice doubles short serves in a fairly small space (like a basement). Put some tape on the floor where the Ts are located and tie a string at the right height in between.
Wow. This is my situation. First of all, I am a Canadian teacher living in Guangzhou, China (near HK). I came from a school near Shanghai where we had our own badminton hall. I could play everyday; even on weekends. I was conned into believing my new school had a top notch program. Here's what I do: running (lots of it), what I call air and wall drills, skipping, fast foot drills, court craft stuff, weight training, etc. To be honest, I couldn't care less about games for points. I love rallying. Moving around the court. Sweat pouring off me. My students are technically better than me, but after 30 min. their skills begin to crumble. Plainly and simply, they are not fit. Suggest you go onto You Tube. Type in How They Train. Shuttle Flash. Lots of good stuff. Anyway, sorry about the rant. Keep at it.
I practice a lot alone, I have to as I'm very old and try to keep up with younger players I can practice just about all shots except defence You just have to feed yourself, ok the flight isn't perfect but good enough for practice. I practice all my different serves and try to experiment with new ones ! I can feed myself in the midcourt to practice hitting shuttles to the net front court (ST & XC) as well as drives to the rearcourt. I can practice all my overhead shots, smash,drops. clears FH & BH + the same with slice. straight/xcourt. All the rearcourt shots are like hitting from a high deep lift cos that is the only trajectory that I can feed myself with Of course you can always do footwork which is quite simple with a court to yourself. I find myself quite tired after an hour + of this. but then I'm very old
I think you can't work that efficiently alone. It would be better spent on building a good physique imo (flexibility, cardio, weights ...).
Although I do believe that badminton speed of movement/footwork is the most important part of the game you need to be able to play good shots when you get into the position of playing them. Practicing your shots with a partner is preferable but if that is not possible then practicing alone is the next best thing. I can assure you that I have played for a long time at a decent level and I manage to keep my shots tight and clean with the practicises that I do. There comes a point in life when you can workout at the gym all you want but ageing usually minimizes the effect, I still go to the gym 3/4 times a week and practice as much as I can, yes it does help to keep me moving reasonable well at my age but so do the shots that I play cos of my practices.. If you're young then you should be doing both, physical and practices, both getting equal time Good luck with your game