Surfing Waves

Hi everyone I have yet another pop-up question. I've done searches and have seen several questions and answers concerning this subject but none of them answer my question so...

When I am poping up, I arch my back, feet are off handing off the back of the board, knees are pushing into the deck, I throw my A@# into the air, tuck them under me, but cant seem to get my front foot up to my hands.

I see different variations to the pop up, in which some of them, people are getting their front foot planted next to their hands, while their hands are still on the board. They don't let go of the board until their feet are planted on the board. I cant do that, might be flexibility issue????

Some people I see arch their backs, lift their feet in the air, and seem to push their upperbody up and back during the arch and roll their feet under neath themselves. As soon as their upper body is going up and back they let go of the board with their hands and their feet come under them after their hands let go.

So as you can seem I a little confused in regards to the proper way the hands and feet are supposed to released and planted. I try both but when I try the first variation like I said my front foot wont come through the hole between my arms and board, and the second variation the board is very wobbly and when i let go of the front and try to bring my feet up after the weight is on the back of the board, which causes it to bring the nose up in the air = ride over.

Thanks for any replies and I appreciate any help I can get.

what kind of board are you on? i honestly have no idea what my popup looks like, but from what i can tell it goes something like this:

-hands on deck near bellybutton
-arch my back/push up hard
-as i push down against the board, i swing my feet underneath me
-stand up

doubt that makes any sense. but, if you're on a longboard, curl your toes on the tail of the board, and use that as the pivot to you pushing up. the further you get your hands down towards your hips, the more space there will be for your legs under you. when you get your feet under you, bend your knees and stay crouched, then stand up like you're coming up from a squat. i think i take my hands off the deck as my feet land beneath me.

maybe try watching some youtube clips and see if you can pick up anything from them

Hi thanks for the reply. First, the board I'm usually using is a 9' longboard, but sometimes I'll use a 7' 6". Second, I'm typically placing my hands at shoulder level when I start arching and attempt to pop-up I really want to lean toward shortboards so I'm really trying hard not to use my feet/tail to pop-up. I will attempt to place my hands farther back near my belly tomorrow and see how that works. Is it more of a pivot with the knees to feet, or a push from the knees on the deck to lift the legs and feet?

First of all, you need to get your hands down to around your waist - otherwise you're kinda dragging yourself forward rather than up.

Next, your knees shouldnt really be involved at all. The pop-UP should be from the arms, pushing you up (and the board down) then swing the legs under with very little pushing up from the knees or feet.
Depending on style, you can swing your legs all the way under your shoulders, or you can start to rise as your feet come forward.

Remember that its a pop-UP not a drag-forward

Yeah hands are just above waist level on the board,

Just extend your arms as the board drops away, dont need much of a push up

Then rotate your lower half whilst bringing your knees towards your chest

leave your backfoot over the fins and continue to bring your front foot to between your hands

All done.

remember you have to start early otherwise you'll be too fardown the wave and wont have controll before you stand.

That's odd. When I pop-up, my hands are at my sides, parallel to my lower-chest area, not my waist level. I would think that placing your hands that far back would not be pushing on the middle of the board, and you might possibly end up letting the wave pass.

I would suggest watching a lot of video on take-offs, and of course, practicing on land. Your technique carries over into ocean. You sound like you're doing everything right, you just need experience through repetition.

The hands aren't important, you can have them down or up, or even out like Mark Richards, the albatross, it's whatever keeps you steady.

After reading the threads all I'm going to ad is that it takes time and practice, don't think about it too much. If you are a begginer, go to waist high surf and parctice poping up without paddling, just pop up over and over until you are comfortable.

Thanks for all the great info, I tried placing my hands down by my waist when arching and poping up, but I still feel like I have to push down with my knees to get the momentum to bring my backside and legs up, which still seems to be putting too much weight on the tail. And as far as mathteacher's statement regarding pop-ing up without paddling, can I actually just get into the wave by waiting and pop-ing up? Also am I actually supposed to be pushing the board down into the wave, or pushing myself up off the board? If that makes any sense??? Thanks.