Thanks, Howly! Although I honestly can’t say every day, I do practice my dry land pop-ups on most days. I’ve added it into my regular workout, so basically, instead of doing burpees I do those instead. I have a pretend “stringer” line that I center on with a desired target for my back foot. After I pop-up I try to stay crouched for a few beats (I have a habit of standing straight up right away), look ahead, then check my footing to make sure I’m in place. Works great in the gym. In practice, though, it’s, um… less than perfect.
I recently made the following adjustments: I started putting my left hand higher and my right hand lower when I chicken wing to get me into better position faster when I spring up (I’m regular/natural footed). I have found this to help a lot. I’m also working at coming off the instep of my right (back) foot (or using no foot at all) instead of coming up off my toes. Supposedly this is a bad habit for long boarders that I need to break now since I won’t have the luxury to use my foot if I ever graduate to a short board. Also, if I come off the instep instead of my toes my foot’s already in place facing right vs. straight ahead saving some time for me having to turn/adjust it. Finally, a couple weeks back a random dude told me to not let go of the board until I’m ready to stand up. Sounded so common sense that I wanted to say, “no $h1t, huh?” but afterwards in practice I noticed a lot of times I was just jumping straight to my feet standing hoping somehow they landed in position vs. staying low and crouched, making sure I was in good position and balance first before coming all of the way up (if that makes any sense). So, that actually ended up being some good free advice.
I also admit a significant portion of my troubles could be (is) mental as well. I’ve got to build more confidence in the water. I tend to get shaken up after a few bad pearls then end up waiting too long. Gotta turn off that fear. But, man, I hate eating it. All the more reason to get better.
Thanks, everyone, for helping out and indulging this middle-age kook. I tend to use self-deprecating humor a lot, but I truly love surfing and I’m going to get proficient at this sport if/until it kills me. I know tone is hard to decipher in text, but if it ever seems like I’m down it’s only because I know where I want to be and get frustrated at my (seemingly) slow progress getting there. Trust me, my stoke is high. I’m not trying to be Kelly Slater (or Ben Gravy, Tex
), just a competent guy out there catching unbroken waves. But I truly mean it when I say there’s no bad days in the water. I learn something even from my worst sessions, I get to be outside in nature, and when I’m out I’m not thinking about anything else other than catching that next wave. Can’t really complain about that.