How the World's Best Surfers Pop Up (Slow Motion)

I've always wanted to see the top pro surfers' pop-up technique in slow motion, so when I had the opportunity to shoot the WSL Founder's Cup at Kelly Slater's Surf Ranch, I rented a long lense and started shooting 120fps, which I then slowed down 5x for this video. I found it really interesting, so I decidedto share it so we could all learn from it. I was surprised that there were so many different techniques among these best. Tell me what you see here. What surprises you? Whose technique looks best to you?

Obviously, we're just seeing their popups on a small-ish right-hand wave. They would adjust their technique in different types of surf (larger, steeper waves, etc), but the wave pool gave us a rare opportunity to see how their pop ups differ when they're all on the exact same wave.

[johnhoover]

It seems as if here are commonality between at least half of these surfers:

1) back foot lands first, sometimes well before the front. and that foot is used to help push the front foot thru (even on Slater, if you look closely, his back foot still lands 1st).
2) hips twist to raise inside/rear hip
3) front hand (same side as the front foot) is usually well ahead of the "back" hand, and both hands seem canted in the same direction toward the inside of the board giving more room to swing the front foot through (eg, hands facing more left for goofie riders).
4) head/eyes facing down the line in direction they want to go
5) back arches and chest raises before the push on the hands
6) hands on board until both feet are placed,
7) stay low and crouched until that hands leave the board.

i've thought a lot about this vid, and these takeaways have helped my pop-up immensely! it is not so much of a pop-up, but a quick powerful step up, and realizing that allowed me to keep in contact with my board, staying low and to be in the surf position once i remove my hands from the board. at least this is how it works for me.

thanks Brent!

[oladulce]

Started surfing as a shy 13 yo girl- no coaches, nobody to give tips for improvement but still had fun and never knew the difference. Many years of trial and error to find what worked for me, but 48 yrs later it's harder to undo some of the bad surfing habits that are ingrained. Take-offs are a key area needing improvement for this 61 y.o. girl still riding shortboards. Great slo-mo in this video shows how far down the wave these guys paddle in before planting their feet- definitely something to work on. Appreciate the video-thanks.

[alexhan]

I think this video is one of the most helpful videos about proper popping up on youtube if you take time to really examine.
My 2 takeaways from this amazing video...

1) back foot has to land first not only to create that 'jumping forward momentum' (if your front foot lands first, your weight distribution inevitably moves from front to back when your back foot lands..)but also to be compressed when you get on the board. This way you can start pumping and start generating speed from the very first second of your ride.

2) your hands don't leave the deck until your front foot lands so you always have that forward pressure until you are on the board. If you lose that forward pressure even for a slight second before you are on the board, you are gonna create drag and slow yourself down. Hence, you never jump up on your board, but rather slide up on your board.

Maybe these are obvious facts to good surfers, but I feel like nobody directly tells you these tips and why they have to be done in such fashion when teaching how to pop-up on a shortboard.

[mysurflessons]

what I love about this clip is you can see how top shortboarders adjust their back foot before opening up their turns.

[andrewholt]

Biggest thing I picked up from this that immensely helped my pop up: virtually all the pros pop up with their hands offset (frontside back is farther back). I've surfed for a long time and always popped with my hands next to each other, which makes it harder to get the front foot through on center. Thanks so much Brent!

[Nadasurff]

dude. i have died waiting for a vid about this topic. my popup sucks and this is exactly what i needed

[angusrc]

one interesting thing to note is how low their heads come down when paddling in. Only Gabriel medina keeps his back arched the whole time. For most people, on their last stroke, they drop their heads and chest almost straight down to the board. This helps to keep the nose of the board down in most cases. How much you do this will depend on your position on the wave and speed of paddling. Pop up is also angled to the right to get them going in the right direction - with hands also keeping extra pressure on the inside rail on the push up. Eyes are always focused on the next section of the wave.

Once standing, the pros are compressed and immediately un-compress for a first speed-generating pump.

[CptnBarker]

This is amazing footage and, in my opinion, the approach you take on this video is very valuable and not something I had seen focused before...
I used to be involved in professional tennis prior to learning to surf and and I had always been flooded by millions of HD slow motion videos of things such as Federer's serve or Nadal's forehand (+100k results for each of these, for example), so it came to me as a shocking surprise that, when I looked for similar studies done with professional surfing in order to take a look at how the pros did it and try to realize what I was doing wrong and how I could do it better, I basically found no footage, especially concerning the pop up moment.
I may be speaking for myself and others may look at this as something trivial, but I believe that these six minutes you brought before us are very rich in showing the fine details of how each surfer tackles this critical moment in waveriding and how they compare between each other, especially when the wave is the same for everyone.
At the end of the day, this won't make me surf like Slater, but for someone like me, who never had surfing classes but instead got hold of an old beaten softboard missing one fin, pointed that thing at the shore, paddled like a maniac, tried to stand up, fell and proceeded to scrutinize what had gone wrong, wave after wave, session after session, trying to correct myself and improve out of casual feedback from friends and self evaluation, this is nothing short of pure gold and a tool that ultimately may help me improving my surf and result in me having more fun in the water! Thanks you very much for releasing this, man! :)

[jonathangold]

The major thing that I’ve noticed is that they all have slightly different leg movements and foot planting, but they all grab the inside rail and place their outside hand on the top of the board. Can’t wait to try this. I would think this allows the surfer to micro adjust the angle of the board to prepare for going down the line. Also allows them to put more weight on the inside rail that is about to be engaged when the pop up. This could be a game changer for me! Thanks for the vid.

[jeremiahmorris]

I've been looking for a video dedicated to just this. I noticed none of these pros grab the rail while popping up. I've got some adjustments to make. Thanks for the vid🤙🏽

[Hotwire_RCTrix]

The one thing they all do the same is how they have there hands. None of them grip the rail! Many people, including me, have the habit of holding the rail as they try to stand. Thank you for this opportunity to see what the pro do.

[digitalsmear]

Holy shit! Thank you so much. I learned so much from this video!

I've done a lot of professional movement analysis as a snowboard coach, but found high level resources for surfers significantly lacking. I really noticed how every single one of these takeoffs demonstrated planting the back foot pretty intentionally first. I've always kinda focused on trying to get my front foot forward as quickly as possible, thinking that if it lands properly then my back foot should be able to fall into place, but it makes so much sense to slow down and simply do it in the obvious order that things are moving in.

Also, it's like they're not doing anything more complicated than a basic "Aussie Walk" longboard pop-up.

I've been over complicating this for YEARS! Thank you so much! :D

[angusrc]

This is very valuable footage. When I was learning/working on my popup I would spend a lot of time watching pro heats trying to analyze exactly how they paddled into a wave and popped up

[nikodunk]

This is literally pure gold. Thank you so much for making this! Why have I never seen something like this before!! I've been surfing for a decade and this is SO helpful because there's always that nagging thought that I _could_ be doing the pop-up better if I just got some technique when I mess up a few in a row. Especially how many variations you give: I can see what a good average is!

[jennsurfbruja]

this is such a gem of a video ... thank you for the footage ... I refer back to this video so often.
something I've personally been working on in my own surfing - and it's so beautiful to see it here in slow-mo - is the actual setup to their takeoff.
before they even bring their feet under them, the projection (many use a subtle shift with their head), then setting their line ... this makes such a huge difference.
the other thing I notice is that there's so much variance which goes to show that there are actually a lot of functional ways to get to your feet ... also that adjustments are important.
great video - thanks again!

[jakeselby]

Great video. All I’d say is that every one of these surfers still put the back foot on first (they just did it faster than others) and this is the best way to teach it to someone instead of just saying “pop up”
If they slow it down and learn it in steps like your wonderful video, there’s no chance of picking up bad habits

[sidshocking]

Much thanks!! I've been surfing for 40+ years and recently suffered a back injury that is forcing me to re-learn the basics. Frustrating as hell, but I simply refuse to quit-- or go SUP. Since I can no longer get away with anything other than excellent technique, videos like this are incredibly helpful.

[ckarjala]

Forget their popup, what I've never figured out is how after watching literally hundreds of contests, I've never seen one pro stand up with their leash wrapped around their front foot!!!

[sldaley]

OK, I "learned to surf" in California in... the late 50's... on inflatable rafts. Fiberglass surfboards came later for me, in high school in about 1963. We lived inland, in SoCal, so only got to surf on about every other weekend. THIS video is showing me things I should have learned all those years ago, and with your beautiful eye for detail including video composition and all that. A brilliant presentation -- thank you!

[socalboys]

I gotta say this is great! Such an overlooked thing in surfing. The pop up and then your footwork sets up everything. And the different styles of hand placement. Grabbing both rails, grabbing one rail with one hand on the deck, or two hands on the deck. Great stuff!