You're out there. The set of the day is rolling in, shifting from a dark lump on the horizon into a clean, tapering wall of green water. You paddle. Hard. The board catches the energy, the nose dips, and then—tragedy. You fumble the feet. You end up on your knees, or worse, your front foot lands somewhere near the rails, and you’re treated to a front-row seat of the wave passing you by while you belly-flop into the flats.
It sucks. Honestly, most people blame their "fitness" generally, but it’s usually just a lack of specific surfing pop up exercises that target the explosive biomechanics required to move from a prone position to a staggered stance in under a second.
Surfing is weird. It’s one of the few sports where you go from lying down to standing up on a moving, unstable surface while fighting gravity. You can't just do standard gym stuff and expect it to translate perfectly to the lineup. You need to train the pattern.
Why Your "Gym Strength" Isn't Helping Your Pop Up
Most people hit the gym and think heavy bench presses or slow, controlled squats will make them better surfers. They won't. Not really. Don't get me wrong, being strong is great, but the pop up is a plyometric movement, not a weightlifting one. If you’re slow in the gym, you’ll be slow on the water.
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Think about the physics. When you’re popping up, you aren't just pushing yourself up; you're creating space for your legs to swing through. If your hips are tight—which, let's be real, most of ours are from sitting at desks all day—that swing-through becomes a clunky, multi-step process. You end up doing the "chicken wing" or the "knee-drag."
Expert coaches like Cris Mills (the Surf Strength Coach) often point out that the pop up is essentially a modified burpee, but with a massive emphasis on thoracic extension and hip mobility. If you can’t touch your toes or hold a deep squat, your pop up is going to feel like you're trying to fold a piece of dry cardboard. It just breaks.
The Anatomy of the Move
It starts with the "Cobra." You push your chest up while keeping your hips low. Then, the explosion happens. Your core snaps your knees toward your chest. If your surfing pop up exercises don't include this "snap," you’re just doing slow push-ups. That’s why we see so many beginners struggling. They treat it like a slow-motion yoga flow when it needs to be a violent, controlled burst of energy.
The Essential Surfing Pop Up Exercises You Can Do at Home
Let’s get into the weeds. You don't need a fancy balance board or a $2000 surf trainer. You need floor space and a bit of discipline.
The Explosive Push-Up to Plank
This is the foundation. Start in a push-up position. Drop your chest to the floor. Now, instead of just pushing up, explode. You want your hands to actually leave the floor for a split second. Land softly in a high plank. This trains the fast-twitch muscle fibers in your triceps and pecs. It’s the "pop" in the pop up.
Russian Twists for Rotational Stability
Surfing isn't linear. When you pop up, you’re often turning the board or adjusting to the angle of the wave. Sit on the floor, lean back slightly, and rotate your torso from side to side. Use a weight if you want, but focus on the squeeze in your obliques. This keeps you centered when the wave tries to buck you off.
The "Deep Ape" to Low Lunge
Mobility is king. Squat down as low as you can, keeping your heels on the ground. From there, jump or step one foot forward into a wide lunge, mirroring your surfing stance. If you can do this smoothly, you’ve got the hip clearance to get your feet under your body without catching your toes on the wax.
Stop Doing Regular Burpees
Seriously. Stop.
Standard burpees teach you to land with your feet parallel. That is the literal opposite of what you want on a surfboard. When you practice surfing pop up exercises, you should always, always land in your surfing stance. Left foot forward for regulars, right foot forward for goofies. Practice landing with your feet on an imaginary "string" running down the center of the room. This builds the muscle memory of where your feet belong. If you land with your feet wide, you lose your rail-to-rail control immediately.
The Role of Core Tension and "The Flick"
There’s a specific movement in a pro-level pop up that most amateurs miss. It’s a flick of the ankles.
When your chest goes up, your toes should be dug into the deck. You use that leverage to catapult your hips into the air. If your feet are limp, you’re dead in the water. One of the best ways to train this is through Plank Jacks. While in a plank, jump your feet out and in. It seems simple, but it builds that "spring" in the lower body that separates a smooth takeoff from a struggle.
Overcoming the "Knee Drag" Habit
We've all been there. You're tired, the paddle was long, and you resort to putting your knee down first. It feels easier in the moment, but it’s a death sentence for your progression. It slows you down and throws your center of gravity off.
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To break this, try "No-Handed Pop Ups" on land.
Lay flat.
Try to get to your feet using as little hand pressure as possible.
It’s incredibly hard.
It forces your core to do 90% of the work.
Once you go back to using your hands, you’ll feel like you have a literal spring-loaded mechanism in your chest.
Don't Forget the "Look Up" Rule
The most common mistake people make during these exercises is looking at their hands. If you look down, you go down. Your head weighs a lot. If it’s pointed at the floor, your momentum follows.
When you practice your surfing pop up exercises at home, pick a spot on the wall at eye level. Stare at it. Never take your eyes off it during the entire pop up. This simulates looking down the line of the wave. It sounds like a small detail, but it’s the difference between sticking a late drop and eating salt water.
Real-World Application: The 15-Minute Daily Routine
Consistency beats intensity. You don't need to do these for an hour. Honestly, 15 minutes a day, four times a week, will change your surfing life.
- Cat-Cow and Cobra (3 mins): Just get the spine moving. We aren't robots.
- Explosive Push-Ups (3 sets of 8): Focus on height, not reps.
- Surfer Burpees (3 sets of 10): Land in your stance. Every. Single. Time.
- Static Low-Lunge Holds (2 mins): Build that leg burn. The "quad-fire" is real when you’re riding a long wave.
- The Visualization Pop Up: Do 5 reps where you close your eyes and imagine the wave. Feel the board tilt. Adjust your weight.
The Science of Proprioception
Proprioception is your body’s ability to sense its location, movements, and actions. It’s why you can touch your nose with your eyes closed. In surfing, this is everything.
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When you're on a wave, you don't have time to think, "Okay, now move the left foot 3 inches forward." It has to be automatic. This is why off-water training is so vital. You’re "wiring" the brain. Research in sports science shows that repetitive plyometric training increases neural drive—basically, the speed at which your brain tells your muscles to fire.
If you only "train" your pop up when you're in the ocean, you're only getting a few seconds of practice every hour. At home, you can get 50 "waves" worth of practice in ten minutes.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Sometimes, people overtrain. They do 100 burpees and wonder why their shoulders hurt the next day. Surfing is a game of longevity.
- Avoid the "Pike": Don't stick your butt in the air first. It makes you unstable.
- Avoid "Heavy Feet": If you sound like an elephant landing on the floor, you're doing it wrong. You want to be a ninja. Silent. Soft.
- Avoid ignoring your back: A weak lower back will lead to "stiff-legging" the pop up. Incorporate some Bird-Dogs or Supermans to keep the posterior chain engaged.
The Mental Game
Pop ups are scary when the waves get big. There’s a mental hurdle to committing to the drop. If you know, deep in your soul, that your body can execute the movement perfectly because you’ve done it a thousand times in your living room, that fear fades. Confidence is built on the floor of your house, not just out the back.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Session
If you want to see immediate results, start tonight. Don't wait for the next swell.
- Record yourself: Use your phone to film three pop ups on your living room floor. Watch it back. Are your feet landing at the same time? Is your back straight? You'll be surprised at what you see.
- Focus on the "Quiet Land": Try to pop up as quietly as possible. This forces your muscles to absorb the impact rather than your joints.
- Stretch your hip flexors: Most pop up failures are actually hip mobility failures. Five minutes of "pigeon pose" daily will give you the room you need to swing those legs through.
- Transition to a BOSU ball: Once you've mastered the flat ground, use an inverted BOSU ball (flat side up) to add that element of instability that the ocean provides.
Stop thinking of your takeoffs as a lucky break and start treating them like a skill you've engineered. The best surfer in the water is the one having the most fun, and it's a lot easier to have fun when you're actually standing on your board.