Popping up and internal hip rotation

[jwardmagic]

I have been having a lot of difficulty with popping up. It was surprising as I am very athletic, do yoga and weight training and in the past was sponsored for skateboarding.
When popping up, I am regular footed, but my front left toes always drag on the board as I pop up. This happens regardless of what I try. I just cant get high enough to lift my foot so it doesn't drag. Often, I also end up with my back right knee kneeling on the tail and my front left foot pointing forward and not sideways. I was trying to diagnose which muscles may be tight and contributing to this, then I realised that my external hip rotation flexor muscles were extremely tight. Interally, I can rotate about 45 degrees, but can barely go past 5-10 degrees the other way. I realised that this may be making it more difficult to twist when popping up.
I haven't found any other websites which detail the important of external hip rotation in flexibility for surfing. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem and how they overcame it? I have been looking for a yoga pose or stretch which isolates these muscles but haven't been able to find any.

I have tried popping up using the 'step up' method, but find it very slow and actualy harder. I lose balance a lot easier doing it that way. Occasionaly I do pop up perfectly, but it is very occasional, and usualy after a long spell of not paddling and very rare.

[jaffa1949]

Hi jwardmagic,
I apologize for giving you a bit of stick in another thread, I can see popping up is quite a problem for you and some of the other beginners.
I read through all of your posts and maybe what I can suggest may help.
The board I feel is too short at this stage of your learning and it means that you pop up with your weight towards the tail and of course the board is stalled and the wave passes you by as you haven't matched the take off speed .
It's also hard to pop up at low speed a bit like skating there is stable speed between kicking off and death wobble where everything works.

Get hold of a bigger board see how that goes then maybe buy.
If the board you are learning on is the one you were going to cut the fins off, then you have been crippled by poor equipment ( seriously) and rather than use it as a Indo board aid I would recycle it to a dumpster.

About the external hip rotation, I would go and see either a Pilates or Feldenkreis Practitoner and with the Yoga not just look for one pose for correction talk to your teacher about your specific limitation there is also a Yoga for surf DVD around.
I would look to balancing the entire pelvic girdle because you mention it is easier to pop up if you haven't paddled for a while. So I believe that you may be effecting the low back muscle and nerve input to the pelvic system.

I recommend for everyone having Pilates or yoga as an ongoing program.
Hope this helps!