this a is great topic SC. i've been taught 5 dif ways to pop-up and quite frankly they were nothing compared to what's being taught here (maybe i should reconsider my sources). i actually try to practice on a spare shortboard bag that i have, that is about the size of my board, so i can really get my feet where i want them.
i'm gonna try the hands back now, and perhaps start a strong discipline of doing these EVERY day.
Thanks, Rocky - this entire room is filled with all sorts of stuff that I've read and re-read a bunch of times.
As for different methods of popping up - when I was in Barbados, grom and I checked a well known beginner's spot every morning on our way to another spot around the bend - and every morning it was packed with people getting surf lessons from the local surf camp instructors, who would arrive with 9 or more people at a time, and foamtop longboards stacked high on their pickup trucks.
Each day we watched the instructor demonstrate pop-ups on land to the newbs, and each day I would cringe when he taught them to climb up to one knee and then stand. Drove me absolutely insane - it took everything in my power not to scream.
Here's a vid showing 3 methods, but is any method other than the first even remotely advisable?? I'd have to think the answer is absolutely not.
Surf Lessons : 3 Pop Up techniques