Yes, and becoming fit and have good balance outside the water is essential, when I say fit I mean fitter, more flexible and balanced than what you are right now. look up, use the wave and not try to match the speed of the wave when paddling. Practice your pop up at home and you will fly.

@@aussiert Took it out last weekend. I got up a few times in some rough conditions. I kept nose diving when I stood up in the middle. I had to get up further back to keep the nose planing.

@@HilltopZombieShop that’s awesome, if you shift your weight back when you feel the back of the board lifting up and look where you want to go nosediving will stop, don’t look at the board or the water under you.

Timing is crucial to get through shore break and best thing is to wait for a pause in the waves and then paddle out. Turtle rolling in shallow water isn't safe so I advise waiting for the waves to die down or you can jump over the waves holding board over the top of the break or whitewash, next thing if that's difficult is to swim out a little ways let board drag behind you or hold the leash near the tail till waves stop or deep enough to do turtle roll. Turtle roll is a great technique to get you out faster by not getting dragged back and also safety reasons. No one wants to ride a wave with someone paddling out and not taking care of their equipment and can run into it. Feel free to call me if you still have issues or questions through my website or IG Natural Surf Technique.

You practice slide up technique on hardwood floor with socks on or on a soft top surfboard and put sand down to help slide through. Goal is keeping the sand track down the middle as a reference. Its did wonders to all my clients asa training tool for the real pop up on a wave and teaches the hips to stay low and turn through.

Thanks Steve and I hope the techniques in a few other videos help. Being on the right equipment is the best start after you work on technique on the beach or floor at home. Then its learning to catch whitewash and get use to moving as you go to your feet using the techniques mentioned. From there its going out on small days 1-2 ft waves and learn to get the timing. Go out past the waves about 15 ft and when the wave is approximately 15 ft from you start paddling trying to focus over your shoulder that the wave is biggest on. This will help time the wave better and also makes sure you don't cut off other surfers on the wave as the surfer closest to the curl of the wave has the right of way. So I always say try to practice away from crowds until you learn to read waves and understand etiquette. I hope the videos help you get started and first thing is the right equipment, then technique and practicing in the right wave size and power. Remember its nearly impossible to develop good technique when you can't read and time the waves well, so start small in the whitewash/foam and then small waves that break out far enough so you don't go head first into the beach. Always take a deep breath, lift your head and upper body off the board just before the wave gets to you to help keep the nose from going under water, then as the wave starts to push you you can lower your chin outward as you exhale, reach your arms further, take a few good paddles and focus on the hand position as you go up using the techniques mentioned in the videos. Waist deep water is a great way to start and work on paddling, watching the wave and getting your hands to a solid place as mentioned as you learn to go to your feet and keep balance over the front foot which should be center of the board. Hope I don't sound too confusing- Enjoy!

@@frankcaronna fantastic advice Frank! I have so much to learn & really hoping I’ll be able to master the slide up technique. My pop up is embarrassing 🙈

Practicing the slide up and building strength on the floor or on a soft board with no wax helps teach the body the movement you need to be more successful. Once you are in the water on a board with wax, as you go into the wave the slide up just takes over and you have more space created between your board and body with going down the front of the wave, so practicing the slide up will just help you evolve with the natural pop up and you won't have to work about feet sliding across the deck. I have many of my students practice the slide up daily and within a few weeks they are going up with the technique in mind, but not necessarily needing toes touching the deck of board anymore. The main thing is pulling hips forward, concentrating on the front foot and knee coming through your arms then twist in. Its done with one motion and its ok if you fall learning to get your feet flat which is where balance comes from. Let balance be result of good technique and be sure to look where you want to go as you are going up, don't look down at board and do not grab the sides(rail of board as it takes away needed space for your lower body). Hope this helps and I will be in Costa Rica for the next few month doing more for those to get new videos to help their surfing improve. Thank you for the question and hopefully it helps others as well!

@@frankcaronna Thanks! Makes sense. Enjoy Costa Rica and I will look for the new videos.

Thank you and trying to do more and really just learning how to do videos better, but the content I hope helps everyone!

I am 5-9 and mark the middle of board as a guide. Heal of the palms to the middle of board to push up and sternum just in front of middle will give you a pretty good feel of where to be and a great starting point depending on your bodies weight distribution as some people are top heavy or bottom heavy.

@@frankcaronna Thanks Frank, I have your book as well.

The rotation of the hips usually starts just past midway and as surfers improve and get quicker it might change, but I do best with my students to pull hips forward and twist as late as possible to assure the front knee comes down the middle and front foot gets between hands. Momentum going into a wave always helps, but on land you can see I don't start twisting the front hip until my front foot reaches just about my arms/hand position.