Sorry, but yet another POP UP question!

[oldmansurfer]

Pushups aren't entirely right for popups, your hands are too far forward. When you popup your hands need to be further back than your shoulders closer to your waist so if you want to do pushups then place your arms back and your wrists are touching your chest when you start. That would be a better pushup for a popup.

[MSL]

Valid point Oldmansurfer!

Good news is all the 'carpet pop ups ' I have been doing have not aggravated my knee so looks like we are heading in the right direction

Pain free post surf days ahead!!!!

[MSL]

Good news chaps. Surfed yesterday and only used proper pop up technique. Went well in the beginning but as I tired not all pops were succesfull and none were smooth and slick. BUT no knee pain today so mission accomplished
Just got to reduce the proper pop up failure rate !
Thanks Guys!

[waikikikichan]

Try dragging your back foot's In-Step along the deck before placing the whole foot down. That will force your knee to face outwards ( not downwards if your drag your toes ).

[MSL]

Will practice this my next carpet pop session!! Got to get muscle memory to max on pop up technique otherwise too much to think about

Cheers waikikikichan.

[jaffa1949]

MSL, I haven't been able to get on an discuss knee issues with you because the net poor here in Indonesia.
Briefly we need to get you popping up correctly and easily every time, the chicken wing is dangerous to your knee's integrity as the pain has told you! Chicken winging will eventually cause a medial ligament strain or tear and damage the medial cartilage .
I am healing the same sort of injury , hard a determined work is needed.

Talk more about it later
Cheers Jaffa

[MSL]

Thanks for info Jaffa, wish I knew that chicken winging was bad for your knees before it became a habit.
Having to relearn to the proper pop up is frustrating as I feel I am going backwards in my surfing although no pain is nice

Cheers

MSL

[Big H]

You're going forward....put the work in and it will "click" one day soon and you will be so STOKED!!!

[MSL]

Thanks for support Big H. The only ' click' at this time is my back ' clicking' out of place maybe overdosed on carpet pops. Nice surf here today but I am off to chiropractor

[Big H]

Well don't overdo it....stretching, stretching, stretching....and wouldn't be a bad idea to warm up a bit before jumping right into pop up practice....make it more realistic as well if you knocked out 50 jumping jacks, stretched a bit then 50 more then started pop up practice a little winded....think about when you are out in the surf and you chase a wave down, spin, then gun hard for the wave then......you have to have the juice to explode off the board.....anyhow, sounds like you are on the right track.....I'm working on mine as well....trying to ingrain the motion of popping up with my right hand forward of my left (goofy footed)....

This is what I'm practicing....one hand in front of the other to help pop up with body angled faster:

Here's another nice vid with good advice:

[dtc]

I do the one hand lower than the other thing, it makes it much easier. My right hand (natural footed) is down near my belly button. I find this creates extra height in the hips (although I am tall/old so it may not be as necessary for everyone)

[oldmansurfer]

I don't really know what I do when I popup but it seems to work. Recently it changed a little, got a little faster I think due to my weight training. I am sure my popup changed about 6 months ago because I started noticing wax on my toenails especially my back foot. I am pretty sure that happens when I popup and I still get wax on my toenails when I surf. Anyway I haven't been working on my popup recenlty it seems fine. I think as you go along in your life of surfing you may feel a need to change what you do because you find problems. It may be that once you fix that you will find other problems requiring other changes or not When you are first learning however you deffinitely need to work on your popup. I think if you learn to surf on a longboard then you have to change your popup when you go shorter as well as changing how you turn and paddle and take drops. The Ops problem is a health related problem. I haven't ever heard of anyone with that problem before. I guess he has a knee problem that requires he pops up without hitting his knees. I hope he posts what he figures out so we can advise others if we ever hear any with a similar issue.

[MSL]

Alright chaps, chiropractor slowly clicking my back into place, so no surfing or 'carpet popping ' for me at the moment. Dont know what caused my back to seize but 'carpet popping' while waiting for the kettle to boil without warming up probably not a good idea as Big H says.
Interesting hand position on Kellys pop, if it makes it easier as dtc says, think I will try it.
Talking to chiro/physio it seems my knee issue is related to one of my quad muscles front of thigh not doing its job properly. So problem not caused by surfing ,just aggravated by it when chicken winging.
The fix is to perfect the proper pop up so my knees are being lifted from the board rather than pushing off from one of them. Its possible but I am struggling with it as I have to think too much plus flexibility could be better...
Will persevere until successful or out of money for chiro sessions

[jaffa1949]

MSL It is good you are seeing a Chiropractor, that was what I did as my profession for 30 years.
About the dry pop ups if your quads are weak then the effects are both in the knee and also in the back as other groups of muscles try to accommodate and compensate for the problem.
So get balanced, ask about specific balancing exercises (DO THEM!!)
Go back a number of times until the balancing is done,and then build strength in each supporting group. It will take some time and some discipline on your part as you had developed the problem over some years so a fix requires work!
We want you up and surfing, I just finished a program of personal rehab on the medial co lateral ligament and the medial meniscus that involved me doing just what I have advised you.
26 weeks out of the surf, intense no ballistic stretch and ligament repair Chinese liniments and self acupuncture, and Qi Gong, with orthotic shoe inserts to force me to walk without pronation.
Result able at the end of my Lombok trip to surf as big as I wanted Definite smilies all round for me and I hope for you, Cheers Jaffa

And a Picture to show what we are talking about

[MSL]

Hi Jaffa, thanks for the detailed reply, very interesting.
Chiro put my back ,back into place
Been out in the surf 4 times since and have had less knee pain than before. Although getting pain /ache now in right side hip joint area
It sounds like I am falling apart but chatting to my chiro she says it could all be related to the fact I have arthritis in my big toe on my right foot and it does not bend fully. So other parts of my body are compensating for this and causing a few issues.
So after reading your last reply and watching surfstrengthcoach.com it's Stabilise Then Strengthen , keep Stretching and practice those perfect POP UPS!
As I said earlier ....." Got a lot of surfing years to catch up on" so have to stay in shape!
One thing that has crossed my mind during these posts is ( correct if I am wrong) popping up in surfing is a unique movement to surfing , not used in sport or everyday life. So muscle groups are not prepared for it and have to learn and adapt to it.............

Just a thought.................

Thanks for your time and effort Jaffa

Much appreciated.

[jaffa1949]

One thing that has crossed my mind during these posts is ( correct if I am wrong) popping up in surfing is a unique movement to surfing , not used in sport or everyday life. So muscle groups are not prepared for it and have to learn and adapt to it.............

Just a thought.................

Really happy to help, I think you are right about the pop up and it being unique to surfing.
There are similar exercises to it used in training ( ie burpees) but none on a a skittish waterborne device.
In your case; between the rusty big toe,the low back problems and date of birth you are asking yourself to learn a new behaviour and your body has to increase flexibility in areas where it could previously get by. Persevere with exercise that increase flexibility, have a look, after a discussion with your Chiro at Pilates/or Yogalates ( that is not a cultured milk drink).
My best patients got great results by building their new flexibility upon the correct spinal and muscle structures and their interplay.
OH and hey it will benefit the rest of your life not just your surfing

[dtc]

I don't think there is anything in surfing that you also do in normal life. Or even normal exercises. Even standing up is done while sliding down a hill

[paleo]

Hi , this is my first post But not the first ' POP UP' question ever asked but looking for a snippet of advice which I can't seem to find!
I am 45 years old, in reasonable shape and have been surfing for just over a year ( maybe 100 times in total and a little obsessed with it ). I surf mainly an 8ft mini mal at my local beach break on the west coast of Norway.
I suppose I would rate myself as lower range of intermediate.( goofy foot)
My problem is I have ended up with a chicken wing type pop up ( slide back foot into position then push up) which works well for me while surfing but has ended up leaving me with a sore and slightly misplaced right knee cap for a few days after surfing.
Do you guys who pop up normally on short boards suffer from knee problems?
I know on a longboard you push from your toes but eventually I would like to ride a short board so don't want to rely on pop up that I won't be able to use in the future.
Any pop up advice to avoid excessive knee pressure?

Regards

I have been thinking about your question.. I typically ride a long board but sometimes ride a 7 6 (when it is not down because of a serious delamination). It seems to me that I still use toes but pull my legs up toward my torso as I pop up and use the kick pad. On an 8 you should be fine with toesies unless you are quite tall. Perhaps using a more dramatic pushup would give more room and make it easier to pull the leading leg forward? Good luck with it.

MSL.

[MSL]

Hi Paleo , yes could use my toes but trying not to so I dont start another habit which I will have to break when I eventually get to a shortboard:-)

MSL

[jaffa1949]

You will,also have to scrape wax off your toes after each surf!