My hips are pretty stiff, so when I was longboarding I apparently never learned to pop up quick, then switched to sup because of a back issue(in retrospect was probably due to aforementioned stiffness). So learning prone has been a lot about learning to get on my feet, using the “tripod” method of using the future front knee to get back foot on and then front foot. Q1: anyone else find that if you grab the rail it’s harder to plant the front foot? When I shed my gloves this spring my pop up regressed I think because my naked hands were able to grab instead of lie flat, maybe. Q2: I see good riders pop up quick, but also like I described, so either works I think, but there are times when I think quicker would be better, particularly at my shallow beach break. Which style do people usually use do and why?
Q1: I had this problem with a new board, you probably lost grip since the gloves “stick” to the rails, try adding a bit of surf wax to your rails.
As for Q2, It’s easy to work on, I started making popup practice part of my gym routine. I try to do them real slow and perfect, they are kinda like burpees so actually pretty good exercise. Doing them slow creates muscle memory which makes them easier to do “quickly.”
I got the idea from Brad Gerlach’s Wave Ki.
I also do a switch popup to even things out, though I’ve never tried to take off switch in the water.
Thanks, idk it doesn’t feel like I’m slipping, more like I can’t get my front foot far enough forward. When I practice the tripod on the floor I push off the floor with my fingers. Idk if I do that in the water but I wouldn’t be able to if I was grabbing.
Funny thing is when it works I can’t remember as well, maybe because there’s more that happened after the pop up. One thing that I do remember is that when it works I didn’t hesitate and did everything quick, particularly at the top of the wave before dropping down the face, which makes me think about the jump style.
I’ve been incorporating a pop up in my stretch routine and am getting better, but I feel like I’m landing very back footed, which is no bueno of course. But I’ll keep at it.
If your torso remains relatively back it will be hard to get your front foot forward enough. As you push down on the deck with your hands the torso must immediately slide forward and up then your front foot goes down rather than forward. The torso drags the hips forward then up.
For this to work on prone the tuning requires the mast to be forward enough so that coming forward immediately is required to stop the foil coming up too fast. Perfect positioning of the mast for me means that I am airborne as the foil is rising and my feet land on the board just as the board starts to leave the water. If your foil doesn’t lift enough early then you can’t come forward with the torso and subsequently the front foot.
I am in my fifties and a life long short board surfer. It gets harder as you get older for the front foot to come through and the above is imperative for me and when I get it correct it is ridiculously easy and smooth. It is stupid difficult if my foil is too far back or small, for the wave power on offer, to allow the upper body to drag the hips forward as you need to stay back to get the foil to fly.
Great advice!.
This has been working for me too.
Most popup advice for surfers tells you to place your hands under pecs.
If you place them a little bit more forward and slide as you say when pushing up you gain that critical distance for the front foot.
I have a bit of hip arthrosis and a bum front knee (kneebrace)
,i also reccomend using some glued EVA foam “hand stands”.With 3/4in thickness they help a lot, specially when wearing booties ( you loose some room underfoot and they tend to grab onto the deck as they swing into position)
Great suggestions here! Late 50s, tight hips too, and have been struggling to quickly get to my feet and position feet correctly. When waves have a bit of steepness, I tend to get better feet positioning as I think I have more room to get front foot more forward. I also tend to try to rush and get to my feet quickly then feet are not optimally placed. Going to try the slide method above that may slow my popups down a bit.