Surfing Waves

I have been surfing for about 8 months...I can pop up, or at least slide my feet under me easily so I am in a crouched position on my feet. My problem is raising up from there and feeling stable and balanced. I tend to keep a hand on the board as still feel unbalanced.
Any tips?

Can you do it on land - that is, go from a crouch to standing? A lot of people - particularly if your usual job is a desk job - have very weak glutes (your 'bum' muscles) and the glutes are very important in raising you up from a crouch and are also vital muscles in terms of balance. While its not initially logical, when you balance you are moving your upper body and hips around to counter balance the changes at feet level - which requires hinging at the hips and its your glutes that control this movement.

Your hamstrings and your quads (thigh muscles) also play a part, but for most people their thigh muscles are ok. Hamstrings - not always.

It can also be ankle mobility or foot position - if you are crouched on your toes because your ankles are stiff, then pushing yourself up to standing is harder than if your whole foot is on the board. Another possibility is that if your hand is on the board then you are probably leaning towards that hand, lets say leaning forward a bit and perhaps therefore raised on your toes which, as mentioned, is a much harder position to stand up from, and your weight is forward over your hands rather than back over your hips and feet. So you end up trying to stand by pushing your hips up first, meaning your shoulders are leaning even further forward and over you go. You therefore need to sit back a bit, put some weight on your heels and move your whole body upwards. But this means you need strong glutes...its all a chain!

So my thought is that it might be a strength related issue (glutes probably) or it might be a mechanical issue (you are just ending up in a stance that makes it very hard to stand up easily in a balanced way). So try to put yourself in the same position on land as you get to on the board, and stand up. If its hard, see whether slight changes help eg lean back more on your heels/back foot, put your feet flat. Also test your glute strength and ankle mobility (Bret Contreras has a good site about glutes, but there are plenty of others. As a work internet warning, any site that focues on glute strength has a lot of photos of, well, glutes).

Finally - you can just do some balance exercises, such as standing on one foot etc (again, plenty of suggestions on google).

What size board you riding and how much do you weigh?

Thank you DTC...very helpful.

Math - I am riding a 9'6" x 23 x 3 3/16 longboard...I am 6'2" 240 pounds but pretty fit...I still need to lose some pounds .

dtc wrote:Can you do it on land - that is, go from a crouch to standing? A lot of people - particularly if your usual job is a desk job - have very weak glutes (your 'bum' muscles) and the glutes are very important in raising you up from a crouch and are also vital muscles in terms of balance. While its not initially logical, when you balance you are moving your upper body and hips around to counter balance the changes at feet level - which requires hinging at the hips and its your glutes that control this movement.).

DTC- yes I can do it on land easily...on the board my balance isn't as secure as it is on land...obviously. . Thanks for all your feedback and tips

For fun at the gym at lunch I put myself into the 'pop up with hands down' position. My impression was that its very easy to be not quite balanced - for example, at times I found both arms in front of my body and also that I was tending to lean a lot on my back leg. Trying to stand from this position is ok on land because the land doesnt move, but on the board it might squirt the board away from you.

So I think the question I should have asked is 'when you try to stand, is there some consistent pattern' eg: you fall off the board backwards or sideways etc'?

I assume you arent trying to pop up and then stand up immediately ie you are popping up into the crouched position and then waiting a second or a few and then trying to stand up?

Nice fin on the board.

dtc wrote:For fun at the gym at lunch I put myself into the 'pop up with hands down' position. My impression was that its very easy to be not quite balanced - for example, at times I found both arms in front of my body and also that I was tending to lean a lot on my back leg. Trying to stand from this position is ok on land because the land doesnt move, but on the board it might squirt the board away from you.

So I think the question I should have asked is 'when you try to stand, is there some consistent pattern' eg: you fall off the board backwards or sideways etc'?

I assume you arent trying to pop up and then stand up immediately ie you are popping up into the crouched position and then waiting a second or a few and then trying to stand up?

Nice fin on the board.

DTC- you are absolutely correct. I pop up into the crouched position and then find myself waiting to find the "optimum time" to stand up. I usually have my right hand on the board trying to keep my balance and I don't feel comfortable enough to stand all the way up.

I currently use just the large single fin on my board. It does have slots for 2 FCs side fins.

BigFlorider wrote:DTC- you are absolutely correct. I pop up into the crouched position and then find myself waiting to find the "optimum time" to stand up. I usually have my right hand on the board trying to keep my balance and I don't feel comfortable enough to stand all the way up.

I am wondering whether your problem is actually not committing to standing up - just like riding a bike, surfing slowly is actually harder than doing it fast.

Anyway, perhaps being nervous about standing up means you try to do it too slowly or expecting to fall, or you wait and the board starts heading down the wave rather than across (down the wave is less stable because the board is falling and you are trying to go upwards), and then you fall...

The first thing is to make sure your crouch is balanced - this means weight balanced evenly between front and back foot - this will require your shoulders to be above or just forward of (but in line with) your hips. Right hand on the board is ok but keep your left hand on the other side of your body and dont put too much weight on your right hand (dont use it as a weight bearing support, just touching the board for balance). As much as possible weight evenly balanced between heels and toes

Then stand straight up lifting your hips and shoulders at the same pace - if you lift your hips first (for example), you will pitch forward. If your weight goes slightly forward or back this wont matter too much.

Then carve!

It sound easier than it will be, but I reckon if you can pop up onto your feet then there is no reason why you can't stand up - you have done most of the hard work already. And, as (yet another) suggestion, have a go popping up into the crouch and then standing immediately. The longer you are in the crouch the more you need to concentrate on getting the crouch 'right'; if you pop up straight away then you dont need to worry about it.

Thanks DTC...I will have a go and let you know the results!

I was inspired by a photo from Jaffa in another thread.

If your crouch looks like this (Jaffa's photo) then you should be fine - notice how the weight (upper body) is centred over the base (lower body); beautiful stance and she can easily stand up if she wants


But if your crouches look like this, then your pop up needs some work - notice how the weight is not centred. From this position you arent really popped up, you just have your feet on the board and, while you can probably surf across the wave in this position, standing up is almost impossible

That last picture is Waikiki!

Ok...I have some very good news! I went out this weekend here in Cocoa Beach FL and started standing consistently for the first time!!!

Here's the weird part! I have been popping up goofy foot and, DTC, my crouch looked like the woman's picture you posted. But a friend of mine who has surfed for a while said to me "it looks like your feet are too close together which prevents you from being as balanced when you try to stand". I have difficulty getting my right foot and leg far enough forward when I pop up. But, if I try to pop up regular foot I have no issues getting my left leg/foot far enough forward. So...after about and hour I switched to try popping up regular foot...obviously it didn't feel natural since I have been practicing goofy footed pop ups for months. I popped up, my back foot and knee were on the board and my left foot was far enough forward...and I STOOD UP!!! I consistently did this for the rest of the day.

I have read about how people surf and skateboard different footed. I skate goofy so I started surfing that way....but it looks like my body wants to surf regular footed. I just have to learn to get that knee off the board. New muscle memory here I come!

I am now more excited to surf again than ever before! I am going to take Friday off and hit the surf! Thanks everyone on this board for the tips and feedback. I will continue to keep trading and posting!

Grand FL surfer,
very happy to hear your latest development! Woohoo, keep the stoke!

Not too surprised about the change and difference in footed-ness. For me, if waves are small and powerless, I automatically pop up as a goofey foot. If waves are medium and larger and have power, I automatically pop up as a regular foot.

Between too much work and soft season in Santa Barbara, I've not surfed in a while. Am mildly envious you have found waves at Cocoa.
billie

Mate, great news. The whole 'which foot goes forward' thing is weird - I mean, I'm left handed and kick left footed but surf regular (left foot forward). Maybe you just have more 'control' over your left leg and are able to fling it forward, whereas with your right leg its more fixed and wont do what you say. Or it could be hip stiffness or all sorts of things.

Anyway, it doesnt matter as long as you can stand.

Actually, a lot of surfers pop up with their back knee low like the Jaffa's pic above. I dont know if that particular pic was after the pop up, but that kind of stance is pretty good to start off with. For example, check out this guy on his go pro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYCyKY0Xk9E

not saying he is the best or anything and he is probably surfing a bit for the conditions (I suspect the wave is fairly steep and he is grabbing the rail), but its no problem having a low knee.

Of course, you want to make sure you arent like the guy in pic 2 above, resting a lot of weight on the back knee and leaning forward.

Well, now you can stand, all that is left is to have fun!