How To Take Off & Pop Up Like A Pro | Surfing

It's arguably the most important skill in surfing; the take off and pop up. Sometimes hard to perfect, the pop up needs to at least be EFFECTIVE in getting you to where you want to be on a wave.

In today's lesson I'm covering the pop up in detail starting with caching the wave, pressing into position and then riding out successfully. This is not just for beginners either!

If you enjoyed this vid be sure to subscribe to the channel!

[tomhyde]

Do a video on beach positioning for waves and reading peaks.

[howtodewaxandrewaxasurfboa]

I needed this I hate the feeling of wasting a really good wave!

[elizabethscott]

Really appreciated the part about keeping your back knee low! When I was practicing popping up, sometimes I didn't have enough room to swing my front foot forward. Then I realized it was bc my back knee was too high, which pushed my bum up and my chest down, which decreased the space between my arms. Super helpful!

[Lavadx]

Thanks as always Kale, your tutorials are awesome. My youngest son wants to learn to surf and I’ve been surfing for SO MANY years that my surfing is second nature and I really did t know how to break things down from zero for him. Now I can explain the core basics that you’ve so gracefully and throughly shown, step by step.

Thanks man!!!

[nickwells]

Oh man, you just cleared up such a huge confusion for me. I was constantly trying to "correct" my pop-up by putting my hands lower and lower toward my hips. Obviously the more I did this the worse I got at popping up. After watching the closeup slomo of you popping up on the foamie and Felipe popping up on the MR, I realized my hands had been in the right spot in the beginning! Oy vay, popping up is a whole lot easier now. Thanks Kale, yew!

[kirstenensine]

Just discovered your channel and already picked up so many cues I can work on. Thank you!

[markstangable]

So glad you made this video. 60yr old here and been much too long ago LOL. The key was seeing 2 things you do, bring forward foot and leaving rear kneel aging slightly (until I get better) Thanks Kales!

[grahamsgoneagain]

Love broccoli, he breaks it down for me the best. I've been surfing for years. Learn something new every time I'm here. Thanks man!!!

[samas]

Hey Kales! I'm a surfer from Portugal and I love your videos.
I'm a beginner-intermediate surfer. I can do cutbacks but not great ones. And I'm starting to generate speed.
Can you make a video about what to focus on after learning to ride the wave and pop up?
What maneuver should I learn first?
Keep posting the amazing content! You make me wanna surf even more :)

[danhitman]

Hey kale, I think you could mention the rotation that happens as you pop up. Your front knee is going to the outside of your left forearm. This stops you obtaining the right front foot angle and also prevents your getting your front foot further forward if you wanted too(tube ride). If you look at Felipe he does it perfectly. I recognise this as I have long legs and switched from goofy to natural after seven years of surfing as I was right footed and not progressing. I went on to teach surfing for 12 years along with yoga.
Tell me what you think. Cheers dan

[threeleggedcatdogwithtwosa]

Music totally pumped me up! Friggin love your knowledge. Thank you!

[eatingreens]

Love your vids! Have made me heaps confident. You explain things so much more simply than other vids I’ve watched.

[troy]

Love the story telling in all your vid's mate. Motivates me to get back in the water!

[didier]

I finally learned how to pop up thanks to Kale!

[thebassboostedchannel]

I have rewatched this video so many times...

[corychalker]

I’m trying to unlearn a bad habit of my back leg kneeling when I pop up. This video helped

[martinmayfield]

Thank You. Just been starting to surf a lot again and my pop up is where I can really improve

[ecohen]

One of the best videos, so many smart tips. I practice yoga and it has greatly improved my surfing as well as watching your videos. love it!!!

[michelleklug]

Such a great video, Kale! I'd love a video on some pop-up challenges for women and how to overcome them. Even after 5 years of surfing, no problem catching waves or turning, I still find myself defaulting to a clumsy knee-first popup no matter what I do :-((. As much as I think women can hold their own in the lineup, science tells us that women have 40% less upper body strength than men on average, meaning .... popping up is harder. I'd love to see - exercises to break your self out of a knee-first popup, how to get yourself mentally to stop doing it, and building the right core + arm strength for better popups. Thanks!

[jackd]

Hi Kale - Great video! Started surfing late in NZ and have watched hundreds of videos on surfing. The interesting point for me is that you keep your back straight and your core engaged during the push up phase of the pop up. Speaking from experience I sometimes fall back into arching my back during this phase. I understand this is sometimes helpful in a steep drop but ends up in a lot of missed waves otherwise. I also like your timing on the pop up. To many times I have held my position too long and rode into sections of the wave that I don't want. Still working on this phase of my surfing - anyway thanks again for sharing.