Top 8 'Land-to-Wave' Pop-Up Drills to Master at Home for Catching Your First Green Wave - Goh Ling Yong
You see it in your mind’s eye: the perfect, peeling green wave. The sun is on your back, the water is a brilliant blue, and you’re gliding effortlessly across its face. It’s the dream that gets every aspiring surfer into the water. But then, reality hits. The paddle, the push, and the frantic, wobbly scramble to your feet that often ends with a face full of saltwater. Sound familiar?
The pop-up is the single most important fundamental in surfing, yet it’s also the most common roadblock for beginners. It happens in a split second, a dynamic explosion of movement that needs to be both powerful and precise. Trying to learn this complex sequence on an unstable surfboard in a constantly moving ocean is a recipe for frustration. The secret isn’t to try harder in the water; it’s to train smarter on the land.
That’s where these ‘land-to-wave’ drills come in. By breaking down the pop-up and building muscle memory at home, you can make the movement automatic. When you no longer have to think about getting to your feet, you can start feeling the wave. You’ll be faster, more stable, and infinitely more prepared to catch and ride your first real green wave. Let’s dive into the top 8 drills that will transform your pop-up from a clumsy struggle into a single, fluid motion.
1. The Prone Plank Hold: Your Foundation of Stability
Before you can explode up, you need a stable platform to launch from. The prone plank, lying face down on your board (or floor), is your starting position. Many beginners are too relaxed in this phase, which leads to a wobbly, inefficient pop-up. This drill trains your body to create a rigid, connected plank, engaging every muscle from your shoulders to your toes, just as you would while paddling.
To perform it, lie on your stomach with your hands flat on the floor, positioned under your lower ribs, just like they would be on your board. Engage your core, squeeze your glutes, and lift your hips and chest slightly off the floor, so only your hands and the tops of your feet are touching. Your back should be flat and your gaze should be forward, looking at the "horizon." Hold this for 30-60 seconds, focusing on maintaining tension throughout your entire body.
Think of it as pre-loading a spring. The tension you create in this static hold is the potential energy for your pop-up. A key tip is to actively pull your shoulder blades together and down your back. This engages your latissimus dorsi muscles (your lats), which are the powerhouse muscles for both paddling and pushing up. A strong, stable base makes everything that follows smoother and more powerful.
2. The Surfer's Push-Up: Explosive Power, Not Endurance
A surfer's pop-up is not a slow, grinding push-up; it's an explosive press. The goal isn't just to lift your body, but to create space underneath your torso for your legs to swing through. This drill modifies the standard push-up to specifically target the muscles and movement patterns you need for surfing. Forget high reps; we’re focusing on speed and form.
Start in your prone plank position. From here, you’re going to explode upwards, pushing the floor away from you as hard and as fast as you can. Your chest should move up and back slightly, creating a pocket of air under your stomach and hips. At the peak of the movement, your arms should be nearly straight, and your body should still be in a rigid plank. Lower yourself back down with control and repeat.
A common mistake is letting the elbows flare out to the sides, what we call "chicken winging." As the renowned surf coach Goh Ling Yong often emphasizes, keeping your elbows tucked in close to your ribs is crucial. This engages your triceps and lats more effectively and provides a much more stable base. For an extra challenge, try a clap push-up. The explosive power required to get your hands off the ground is exactly the kind of energy you need for a quick and clean surf pop-up.
3. The Knee-to-Chest Tuck: Creating Space
One of the biggest hurdles for beginners is getting their feet underneath their body without their knees or feet getting stuck. The issue is often a lack of core compression—the ability to bring your knees tightly to your chest. This drill isolates and strengthens that exact movement, teaching your body how to make itself as small as possible for a moment.
Lie on your back with your legs extended. In one smooth motion, engage your core and pull both knees into your chest, wrapping your arms around your shins to pull them in as tightly as you can. The goal is to get your lower back to round and lift slightly off the floor. Exhale forcefully as you tuck; this will help you empty your lungs and compress even further.
Hold the tuck for a second, then release back to the starting position with control. To make this more specific to surfing, you can progress to doing this from a push-up position. From the top of a push-up, jump both feet forward, aiming to land them as close to your hands as possible while keeping your hands on the floor. This "tuck jump" directly mimics the leg motion of the pop-up and builds incredible core strength and hip flexibility.
4. The "Chicken Wing" Eliminator: The Secret to Stability
We mentioned this earlier, but it’s so important it deserves its own drill. "Chicken winging"—letting your elbows flare out during the push-up—is an incredibly common pop-up mistake. It destabilizes your entire upper body, wastes energy, and puts unnecessary strain on your shoulder joints. This drill forces you to keep those elbows in, building the correct muscle memory.
Place two yoga blocks (or books of similar size) on the floor, shoulder-width apart. Get into a push-up position with your hands on the floor just inside the blocks. As you lower yourself down, your elbows must stay inside the blocks, forcing you to graze them along your ribcage. This immediately highlights if you have a tendency to flare out.
Focus on the feeling of your triceps and lats doing the work, rather than your outer chest and shoulders. Start by doing these slowly, and even on your knees if needed. The goal here is perfect form, not a high number of repetitions. Mastering this control on land ensures that when you're on a wobbly board, your push-up is a source of stability, not another variable of imbalance.
5. The Foot Drag (Front Foot First): Isolate and Place
The pop-up can feel like a chaotic jumble of limbs. A great way to simplify it is to break the leg movement into two parts. This drill focuses exclusively on the most critical part: getting your front foot to the correct position. Proper front foot placement—landing it right between your hands—is the key to a balanced, centered stance.
Start in a high plank (top of a push-up) position. For this drill, you can use a yoga mat and use its center line as a substitute for your board's stringer. From the plank, slowly drag your front foot (your left foot if you're a "regular" footer, right if you're "goofy") up and place it on the center line, right between where your hands are.
Keep your hips low as you do this. Don't lift your butt up high in the air like in a yoga "downward dog." The idea is to slide the foot under your torso. Once placed, hold it for a second to feel the position, then slide it back to the plank. Repeat this 10-15 times on your front foot side only. This builds the specific hip flexor strength and muscle memory to guide that front foot to its target every single time.
6. The Back Foot Swing: Your Rudder and Gas Pedal
Once the front foot is down, the back foot acts as your rudder for balance and your gas pedal for generating speed. It needs to land in the right spot with the right orientation. This drill isolates the hip rotation and foot placement of your back leg, which is often neglected but just as important as the front.
Again, start in a high plank position. This time, you will bring your back knee towards your chest, and then rotate your hips to swing that back foot into position, landing it perpendicular (or at a slight angle) to the imaginary stringer. Your front leg will just stay extended behind you for this drill.
The key is to land on the ball of your back foot, with your heel lifted. This keeps you agile and ready to pivot. Focus on the feeling of opening your hips towards the "sideline" as you swing your leg through. This mimics how you'll open your body to face down the line of the wave. Practice this motion slowly to build control, ensuring your back foot lands consistently in the same spot relative to where your front foot would be.
7. The Slow-Motion Pop-Up (The 3-Step): Building the Sequence
Now it’s time to start putting the pieces together. Rushing the pop-up is a recipe for failure. This drill forces you to slow down and consciously move through a 3-step sequence, cementing the entire movement pattern into your brain without the pressure of speed. This is where you connect all the isolated drills into one cohesive flow.
Here's the sequence:
- Step 1 (Push & Tuck): From your prone plank, perform an explosive push-up while simultaneously tucking your back knee up and under your chest, placing it on the floor. Your front leg stays extended behind you. You are now in a kind of sprinter's starting block position.
- Step 2 (Front Foot Swing): From this position, with your chest high and hands firmly on the floor, swing your front leg through and plant your foot right between your hands. Use the space you created.
- Step 3 (Rise & Stance): Once your front foot is planted, release your hands from the floor, pivot your back foot into position, and rise into your surf stance, with arms out for balance and eyes looking forward.
Go through this sequence as slowly as you need to. Narrate it to yourself: "Push-tuck... foot-through... rise." This methodical practice builds flawless muscle memory. It's far better to do 10 perfect slow-motion pop-ups than 50 sloppy, rushed ones.
8. The Full Speed Pop-Up (The "Burpee"): Making It Fluid
This is the final exam. Here, we take the controlled sequence from the last drill and turn it into the single, explosive, fluid motion you'll need on a wave. Think of it as a surfer’s burpee. Speed, power, and precision all come together. The goal is to get from your stomach to your surf stance as quickly and efficiently as possible, landing in perfect balance every time.
Start in your prone plank position. In one single, continuous movement, explode up, pulling your legs underneath you and landing with both feet simultaneously in their correct positions—front foot between your hands, back foot on the back of the "board." Land in a low, compressed surf stance, arms out, ready to go.
The best tip for this drill is to film yourself. Set up your phone and record a few reps. Do you see any hesitation? Are your feet landing in the right spot? Is your back arching or are you staying compact? Compare your video to a pro surfer's pop-up. This visual feedback is invaluable and will help you fine-tune the tiny details that make a huge difference in the water. Consistency with this drill is what separates those who struggle for months from those who are up and riding green waves in just a few sessions.
Your First Green Wave is Waiting
Mastering the pop-up on dry land is the single best investment you can make in your surfing journey. It builds not just the necessary strength and coordination, but also the confidence you need when a real wave is pushing you forward. By dedicating just 10-15 minutes a day to these drills, you are programming your body for success. You are turning a complex, conscious effort into an unconscious, automatic reaction.
Remember, every single surfer, from the weekend warrior to the world champion, has spent time practicing these fundamental movements. The pop-up is a skill, and like any skill, it is built through deliberate, consistent repetition. So clear some space in your living room, put in the work, and get ready.
The next time you paddle for a wave, your body will know exactly what to do. You won't be thinking about your feet; you'll be looking down the line, feeling the energy of the ocean, and experiencing that pure, unmatched feeling of gliding across your first green wave.
Which of these drills are you going to add to your routine first? Share your pop-up challenges and successes in the comments below!
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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