112 Mastering the Hardest Part of Surfing: Surf More Waves with Confidence 1r1t2e

Struggling to catch more waves and improve your takeoff? The hardest part of surfing isn’t turning or carving—it’s everything that happens before you even stand up. But what if you could master that crucial phase? Most self-taught surfers hit a frustrating plateau because they don’t fully understand wave reading, efficient paddling, or seamless pop-ups. Without these foundational skills, catching waves feels like a battle. This episode breaks down the real reasons behind your struggles and provides actionable fixes to transform your surfing experience. Learn how to develop an obsession with wave reading so you can predict and position yourself perfectly. Discover the key to efficient paddling and why a strong sprint paddle makes all the difference. Shift your mindset to see surfing as starting from the paddle-in, making your takeoffs smoother and more powerful. Listen now to gain the skills and knowledge to finally catch more waves with ease and confidence! Key Points The hardest part of surfing is getting to the right position on the wave with speed, which involves reading the wave, positioning, sprint paddling, and a well-timed pop-up. Surfing mastery requires understanding that the process starts from the moment you paddle for the wave, not just when you pop up. The solution to improving surfing is to become fascinated and obsessed with watching and predicting waves, even when not actively surfing. Inefficient and weak paddling is a major mistake; improving paddling technique and strength is crucial for better surfing performance. Surfing should be viewed as a continuous process from paddling to surfing, requiring a strong and agile pop-up to maintain stability and control. Dry land training with surf-specific exercises is essential for improving the strength, mobility, and agility needed for a seamless pop-up. The Wave Catching Academy offers a four-week course designed to help self-taught surfers understand and improve their surfing techniques.  Outline Introduction to the Surf Mastery Podcast The host, Michael Frampton, welcomes listeners to the Surf Mastery podcast, aimed at helping surfers catch more waves, surf with speed, style, and grace, and gain confidence in the water. Michael emphasizes that the hardest part of surfing is getting to the right spot on the wave with speed, which involves reading the waves, positioning, paddling, and a well-timed takeoff or pop-up. Common Misconceptions About Improving Surfing Skills Michael points out that listening to ex-pros talk about techniques or watching YouTube videos on surfing equipment will not help surfers catch more waves. The focus should be on practical, in-water experience and understanding the dynamics of wave reading and positioning. The Importance of Fascination in Wave Reading Michael suggests that surfers should become fascinated and obsessed with watching waves to improve their ability to predict and read them. When waiting for a wave, surfers should practice predicting where the wave will break and observe other surfers to guess if they are positioning themselves correctly. Improving Paddling Technique Michael identifies inefficient and weak paddling as a common mistake among surfers, advising listeners to improve their sprint paddle technique. He recommends listening to episode 12 with Rob Case for insights into efficient movement and paddling, and suggests visiting Rob's YouTube channel for visual demonstrations. The Attitude of Integration in Surfing Michael discusses the mistake of separating paddling for the wave from surfing the wave, advocating for an integrated approach where surfing starts with the paddle. This perspective helps surfers get up to speed faster and be more adaptable if they mistime the pop-up, emphasizing the need for a strong and agile pop-up. Dry Land Training for Surfers Michael highlights the importance of dry land training to improve strength, mobility, and agility for a seamless pop-up. He mentions a free PDF on his website with the five best exercises for surfers and encourages serious surfers to the Wave Catching Academy for more detailed tips and training. Wave Catching Academy Michael introduces the Wave Catching Academy, a four-week course designed to help average self-taught surfers understand surfing better, catch more waves, and surf faster. The course focuses on improving the process from when the surfboard is under the arm to when it is under the feet, with multiple links and details available for enrollment. Transcription Now, if you could click your fingers and magically appear standing on your surfboard with your feet in the right spot, and on the right part of the wave with speed, then surfing from that moment on is actually pretty easy. It's getting to that point that is the hardest part of surfing. It's reading the waves, it's positioning, it's the sprint paddles to get up to speed, and a well-timed takeoff or pop-up. That's the hardest part of surfing. All of those things. Everything from when your surfboard is under your arm to when the surfboard is under your feet. That is the hardest part of surfing. That's why it takes so long to master. That's why you are feeling frustrated. Listening to some ex-pro talk you through the technique of a will not help you catch more waves. Watching a YouTube infographic video on the difference between fins and rails by some faux British surf guru will not help you catch more waves. So in this episode, we're going to break down some of these real problems and give you some fixes. The first one being your lack of ability to predict and read the wave. Fascination is the fix here. Now, the age-old answer of how to get better at surfing is: surf more. Spend more time in the water. Now, that remains especially true here, because you have to watch and observe lots of waves. In order to make the most of your time in the water, when you're doing that, become fascinated and obsessed with watching. You have to practice predicting where the wave is going to break. So when you're sitting out the back, waiting your turn, or you're waiting for a set, be fascinated with reading the water and predicting where each wave will break. There's a wave coming in every 10 to 15 seconds, so watch. Mind surf the wave. If you see another surfer positioning themselves to catch a wave and attempting to catch the wave, guess whether you think they're doing it right. Should they have been deeper? Will they catch the wave? What could they have done better? If you were them, what would you have done? The time that we spend in the water not surfing is the bulk of our surfing experience. Now, that doesn't mean we can't get better at surfing during those times. So this is one way to do it. The second biggest mistake that surfers make here is inefficient and weak paddling. Your paddling technique probably sucks, and you don't have a strong sprint paddle. I'd say the majority of surfers fit into this category. We've all seen the surfer that paddles past us or the good surfer that just glides into the waves. That's because they move through the water with efficiency and they have a good, strong paddling stroke—especially the sprint paddle. The fix here is: just go and listen to Episode 12 with Rob Case, where he talks through the science of what efficient movement and paddling is. And of course, you can go to Rob's YouTube channel and get some visuals on that. The third biggest mistake when it comes to catching waves is having the attitude of separation. A lot of surfers think that there is a separation between paddling for the wave and surfing the wave. The fix for this—and this is the one perspective that helped my surfing more than anything else—is that surfing starts when you paddle for the wave. So instead of paddling into the wave, paddle down the wave or across the wave as if you're already surfing. This attitude and perspective will help you get up to speed faster, and will also help you be more adaptable if you mistime the pop-up itself. Because if you miss the ideal window to pop up, it doesn't matter, because you're already surfing. In order to do that, you need to have a very strong and agile pop-up as well. Your ability to keep the surfboard nice and stable and planing through the water without any drastic changes of direction is key here. So having enough strength and mobility to be able to do that—to go from having your weight in that prone position, weight on your chest, to weight on your hands and transferring that weight from your hands to your feet seamlessly without losing any feel or control of the surfboard—is the only way to improve this. And the only way to get better at that is dry land training. Surf-specific dry land training. Exercises to improve the strength, mobility, and agility of the pop-up. There is a free PDF on my website called The 5 Best Exercises for Surfers. That will get you started. And if you're really serious about taking your surfing to the next level, and you're sick and tired of the shame and frustration of not having understood surfing yet, and you want to overcome your current plateau as a self-taught surfer, then the next cohort of the Wave Catching Academy, where we go into details on these tips, plus a whole lot more. 112: Mastering the Hardest Part of Surfing: Surf More Waves with Confidence For the ionate surfer—whether you're a weekend warrior, a surf dad, or an older surfer—this podcast is all about better surfing and deeper stoke. With expert surf coaching, surf training, and surfing tips, we’ll help you catch more waves, refine your paddling technique, and perfect your pop up on a surfboard. From surf workouts to handling wipeouts, chasing bigger waves, and mastering surf technique, we’re here to make sure you not only improve but truly enjoy surfing more—so you can get more out of every session and become a wiser surfer. Go from Beginner or intermediate Surfer to advanced. 523p19