What is a pop-up in surfing?
The pop-up is how you get from lying on your board to standing on it once a wave has picked you up. It is the first real skill in surfing, and it shapes everything that comes after. A clean pop-up puts you in a low, balanced stance in the right spot on the board. A messy one gets you up eventually, but in a position where staying up is a struggle.
The key idea is that a pop-up is one continuous movement. When we break it into steps below, that is only so you can learn each part. In the water, the steps blend into one.
How do you pop up on a surfboard, step by step?
- Catch the wave first. Keep paddling until you feel the board start to slide and pick up speed under you. Popping up too early, before the wave has really taken you, is one of the most common reasons the attempt fails.
- Place your hands. Put your palms flat on the deck beside your lower ribs, close to your body. Do not grab the rails, and keep your hands away from your shoulders.
- Press up, hips low. Push your chest up as if you were starting a press-up, but leave your hips close to the board. This makes space underneath you for your feet.
- Bring the front foot through. In one movement, swing your front foot forward so it lands flat between your hands, roughly in the middle of the board. At the same time, your back foot lands across the board near the tail.
- Settle low and look ahead. Lift your hands off the deck, bend your knees, keep your weight centred and look towards the beach or along the wave.
Your feet should end up a little more than shoulder-width apart, both roughly across the board’s centre line, with your front foot angled slightly forward.
Which foot goes forward?
Regular-footed surfers ride with the left foot forward and goofy-footed surfers with the right foot forward. Neither is better. Sort this out on dry land before you go in the water, because rehearsing the wrong stance just builds a habit you will have to undo.
What are the three most common pop-up mistakes?
Most beginners who struggle to stand up have at least one of these three faults. Often they have two at once.
| Fault | What it looks like | What it causes | Dry-land fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coming up through the knees | Kneeling on the board before standing | Slow pop-up, weight too far back, board stalls | Hip-lift press-up drill |
| Looking down at your feet | Head and eyes drop to the deck | Balance tips forward, nose dives, you fall | Fixed-point drill |
| Standing up too tall | Straight legs, upright body | High centre of gravity, wobbling, falls | Hold-the-crouch drill |
Why do I end up on my knees?
Kneeling usually happens when your hands are too far forward or you don’t push hard enough to get your hips off the board. Since there is no room for your front foot to come through, your knee takes its place. This one extra step slows the whole pop-up down, and the wave often leaves you behind before you can stand.
Drill: hip-lift press-up. Lie face down on the floor, hands beside your lower ribs. Push up sharply and try to lift your hips just high enough to slide a foot underneath you. Do not move your feet yet. Repeat this ten times, then add the front foot coming through. Your knees should never touch the floor.
Why do I fall forward when I look down?
Your body tends to follow your head. If you look down at your feet to check where they landed, your weight goes forward, the nose of the board can dig in, and you topple off the front. It is a natural instinct, and you have to train it out deliberately.
Drill: fixed point. Pick a spot on the wall at eye height in front of you. Do your pop-ups on the floor and keep your eyes on that spot from start to finish. Have a friend watch whether your head drops. Once you can do ten in a row without looking down, you have built the habit.
Why do I wobble after standing up?
After popping up, many beginners stand up straight as though they had just got off a bus. Straight legs and an upright body raise your centre of gravity, so every bump on the wave throws you off balance. A good surf stance is low and athletic, with bent knees, relaxed arms and your weight over the middle of the board.
Drill: hold the crouch. After each pop-up on the floor, freeze in your stance and hold it for five seconds. Check that your knees are bent, your feet are across the centre line and your hands are out in front of you for balance. If you have a balance board or a surf-skate, practising the same low stance on it helps the feeling carry over to the water.
How long does it take to learn the pop-up?
It varies a lot from person to person. Fitness, flexibility and how much you practise on land all make a difference. Many beginners manage to stand on a soft-top in gentle white water within their first few sessions. A smooth, consistent pop-up on green waves usually takes longer. Short daily practice on the floor tends to speed things up more than anything else.
Where is a good place to practise it for real?
The best waves to learn on are gentle and slow, break over sand and give you a long ride. Magic Bay in Imsouane is an unusually forgiving right-hand point break. For much of its length it peels over sand and runs for roughly 800 metres, so you get time to stand up and try your stance on the same wave. The swell is usually smallest from May to August, which is the best time of year for learning. Mornings tend to be cleanest, before the onshore wind picks up after midday.
If you would like a coach to watch your pop-up and correct it, our surf lessons keep groups to five or fewer, and private sessions include video analysis. For a full week of practice, see our surf weeks. If you already have the basics, you can rent a board and wetsuit, and our activities page includes surf-skate, which is a good way to train your stance on land.