Popping up trouble shooting

hi i normally jump up in one motion without using my knees at all. thought that was the normal way.

practice at home on the floor. if u can't do it there u can't do it on a board. hands flat - don't grab the rails. arch, pause, pop up

Pushups and burpees for strength and flexibility.

As jacko says, and include visualisation - you're paddling, look over your shoulder, time the wave, pop to your feet.

You are riding a pretty small board. Are you able to paddle in and get it moving quickly enough to pop up ? You might need a bigger board.
Also, as an over 60 surfer, I sometimes go through periods of 'lazy' pop ups. Remind myself of 2 basics - when you jump up have your arms straight and your legs bent. Make sure your legs are up under your hips, even f you have to exaggerate it into a 'pooman' for a while. And don't worry , my son gets up 1 leg at a time and still makes much later drops than me!

Hey Guys,

Borrowing this thread to ask for some advice about a problem I am having popping up on shorter boards. I think its about my timing or technique for pop up´s on shorter boards.

I catch waves alright and I get to the point where I glide onthe wave and can shift weight forward or back to go faster/slow down. At this point, should I be pushing the board down the wave while popping up at the same time in order to get my feet planted far enough forward on the board? Its really frustrating not getting it right! :(

I don´t have this problem popping up on longer boards, but then I have the leverage of popping up using my feet and its way more stable of cause.

Thankful for any advice!

Some suggestions:
- lots of push ups creates arm strength power and spring in the pop up process (do them off a bench or knees to start with). Strong arms mean fast single move takeoffs for me, partly by being in early and partly the strong push up process. Then legs and knees don't need to be used.
- clean quick popups are not that common for overweight people - so being slim and nimble sure does help.
- paddle like the demon for the wave so you are well into it and the board is dropping away below you a bit as you push up - this gives you inches or even a foot to work with so you don't have to swing the legs so high to get them placed further forward on the board. Short boards can be easier than long board to pop up on because you can sort of place the board beneath your feet and use the drop away of the board more.
- think and act energetic / fast as you take off - the body will tend to follow - if you are tired or lazy or cold take offs often deteriorate.
- most surfers use a bit of knee in the push up process - some all the time some when cold / tired (this can be a substitute for the feet push you are used to on a bigger board). In warm tropical waves when I am fit I rarely use my knee, but in cold water with a wettie it seems to happen more. Using the knee the focus is on getting the front foot through to the right position and the back knee touches and helps push to get you upright.

If your arms are strong and you are not carrying weight and go hard to get in early and fast the rest will tend to follow without much thought or analysis. You'll be so focussed on getting into the wave and down the line on another peeler that you won't even think about how you got to your feet, it will just happen somehow.

Thanks for the advice Frogg!

I am working on the arm strength/doing popups at home every day. On a yoga mat and on one of my shortboards set up on a mattress. I found that if I "kick down" while popping up I get more bounce of my knees and have an easier time getting my front foot to the right place on the board. Is that a bad habit? I saw some video online where a guy was doing it.

"paddle like the demon for the wave so you are well into it and the board is dropping away below you a bit as you push up - this gives you inches or even a foot to work with so you don't have to swing the legs so high to get them placed further forward on the board."

I will head out for a surf shortly with focus on the piece of advice above but try to not think too much about how to pop up and "just do it".

Also having a board with a flatter nose rocker can help///

Just came home from a two hour surf paddling as hard and efficient as I could and ended up catching 70-80% of the waves I paddled for. So paddle like a demon helped a lot. Also, pushing the board down with a decisive push (not messing up the balance) to create that extra space for my legs payed of bigtime! I got to my feet with the front foot in the right place and it was not even hard to pop up :)

Hat off to you Frog! If you are around the Sunny Coast in Oz, Ill buy you a beer for your advice :)