How to Improve Your Surfing: 7 Things That Actually Work

I've been coaching surfers for over 10 years — from complete beginners who couldn't pop up, to competitive surfers chasing rankings, to world champions like CJ and Damien Hobgood. In that time, I've seen the same patterns over and over. Most surfers plateau not because they lack talent, but because they're practising the wrong things, or practising the right things incorrectly.

Here are the 7 most effective things you can do to improve your surfing — based on what I've actually seen work, not generic advice you'll find on any surf blog.

1. Get Video Feedback on Your Actual Surfing

This is the single biggest lever most surfers never pull. You cannot see yourself surf. You think you're doing one thing, and you're doing something completely different. I've had surfers tell me their pop-up is fine — then I watch the footage and their back foot is landing six inches too far forward every single time. They've been surfing that way for three years.

Video analysis — whether from a coach watching your footage or even just filming yourself and watching it back — will show you things no amount of in-water practice will. The fastest surfers in the world use video constantly. There's a reason for that.

If you want personalised feedback on your specific surfing, that's exactly what I offer through my online surf coaching service. You send me your footage, I watch it, and I tell you exactly what to fix.

2. Fix Your Pop-Up First — Everything Else Depends on It

If your pop-up is wrong, your whole ride is compromised before it starts. A late, slow, or incorrectly positioned pop-up means you're already behind the wave, already off-balance, already fighting to recover. Most surfers' pop-ups have at least one significant flaw — and they don't know it because nobody's ever told them.

The key things to check: Are you popping up in one explosive movement or two separate steps? Is your back foot landing on the stomp pad or too far forward? Are you looking down at the board or up at the wave? These small things make an enormous difference.

3. Paddle More Efficiently — Not Just More

Most surfers think they need to paddle harder. What they actually need is to paddle smarter. Inefficient paddling means you're burning energy, missing waves, and arriving at the wave already tired. The most common errors I see: head too high (creates drag), arms crossing the centreline, not fully extending the stroke, and not reading the wave's energy to time the catch.

Spend one session focused entirely on your paddle technique. Film it from the side if you can. You'll be surprised what you see.

4. Learn to Read Waves Before You Paddle Out

Spend 10 minutes watching the break before you paddle out. Where are the sets coming from? Where is the peak? Where are the waves closing out? Which direction is the rip running? This information changes everything about where you position yourself and which waves you go for.

The best surfers in any lineup are rarely the most talented — they're the ones who read the ocean best. Wave knowledge is a skill you can develop without even getting wet.

5. Surf With a Specific Focus Each Session

Random practice produces random results. If you paddle out with no specific goal, you'll surf the same way you always have and wonder why nothing changes. Pick one thing to work on per session — your bottom turn, your positioning on the wave, your paddle timing — and focus on that one thing exclusively.

This is what separates surfers who improve from surfers who just accumulate hours in the water. Deliberate practice beats volume every time.

6. Surf More Waves, Not Just More Time in the Water

Two hours sitting in the lineup waiting for perfect sets will not improve you as fast as one hour of surfing every wave that comes — even the bad ones. Beginners and intermediates especially need repetitions. Every wave is a chance to practise your pop-up, your positioning, your turns. Don't be precious about wave selection early in your development.

7. Work on Your Fitness Out of the Water

Surfing fitness is specific. General cardio helps, but what really matters is rotational strength (for turns), shoulder endurance (for paddling), and hip mobility (for your pop-up and stance). A 20-minute routine three times a week targeting these areas will make a noticeable difference in your surfing within a month.

Yoga, specifically, has transformed the surfing of many athletes I've coached — not because it's trendy, but because it directly addresses the mobility limitations that restrict surf technique.