Love your videos. I’ve surfed for 35 years plus and you’ve discussed several tips that I went and implemented in the water and found that they made noticeable improvements in my surfing. Thanks for taking the time to do these!
Oh. My. God! The fact that you picked up on this one minuscule but crucial detail is completely 🤯. For sixteen years I’ve been devouring surf instruction from every corner of the globe and internet, and nowhere have I ever heard mention of this priceless little nugget. Thanks as always for another great video! 🙏💛🤙🏼
As a fellow asian and overthinker, I love the super in depth analysis. Best speed generation video series I've come across on youtube! Keep up the content!
What funny is if you watch all pro surfers and actually most good surfers, you will see that on the bottom pump, even on certain types of bottom turns, the heel lifts. I notice it from Kelly Slater to Carissa Moore. Everyone knows to apply that toe pressure. The heel lift part is a result of the toe pressure.
Great stuff, I like how you really go through your thought process and come up with some original theories, not just the same vague regurgitated directives you get from a lot of other "how to" videos. Hearing you talk about having bad knees always makes me wonder if you know about The Kneesovertoesguy. Should check out some of his videos if you haven't
I never thought I was doing that until I saw a picture of myself surfing and the photographer caught the exact moment of a heel lift/toe pressure but in my case, I do it with a front foot too. That could be why I bog the rail so much. Nevertheless, your video helped me to learn speed generation. Thanks
Awesome video! Great observation. Question. Does your back foot land in the right spot at back of pad or do u have to place it there? What about when u use mid-length
It all depends. it only lands right when the wave is perfect. if I need to shoot down the line first, I tend to be way forward on my pad. On my 6'8, I'm way in front of my pad. I do step back when I need to turn though. On longer boards, the toe pressure also comes more from the leaning into the turn. but you can step back to put pressure on the toe side rail. Just remember, its that sharp edge on the bottom that gives you the most speed.
definitely will look. Funny thing is that although often he seem overly yappy when he was commentating on the WSL events, his knowledge of coaching was often spot on. He said something that has helped me backhand. He said, don't lean into your turn and that comment alone improved my backhand 2 folds. It still sucks but now I'm progressing and not suck in bad habits.
@@ThomyeSurfs yes on the actual practice you will see that. It is a kind of Functional Training for surfers. Definitely I am surfing better (and I am now 48 )
Hi Thomye great tips and glad you’re feeling better. The toe pressure definitely helps. What do you think about the upward lunge of the torso? To deweight the board while applying that toe and rail pressure? I find that really helps too (but only if I’ve managed to pop up properly and avoid feeling the poo man stance…)
Agreed. That does help. Hoping to talk about that a bit in a compression extension video. I find myself unweighting immediately after the toe pressure to allow myself to go back up the wave. It’s hard to say exactly how the timing works but in my head feels like it’s coming after but it could be simultaneous.
@@ThomyeSurfs Cool, look forward to it. If I get the weight and timing right the burst of speed is definitely noticeable. Otherwise it feels like just kinda mashing down on the wave without much gain.
@@mattsmith464 what has always been a funny image to me is the gopro view where the camera is on the surfboard. haha that compression and extension looks so funny but I thought about it because someone asked me, is it only the back leg and I told him no, both legs. but there is a minor stagger, front first then back then toes. but its all within milliseconds. Anyways, I have been actively practicing what I've preached and I have felt a tremendous difference. But for whatever reason, I can do it best on my Firewire GoFish. it seems harder on my other boards like the SciFi2 that i'm trying to review. It is really odd.
@@ThomyeSurfs Interesting! I agree, front then rear, like squirting the water past the rail and fins front to back. For me also the technique works and feels great on my Seaside (to a lesser degree the BP). But when I ride my more ‘traditional’ shortboard sometimes I feel my front and back feet are totally out of sync on the pump and it takes a few waves to adjust. So many factors and kook tendencies at play, and it all goes out the window on backhand ha. But I have found a surf skate on an inclined surface helpful to practice. I’m sure you’ll sort it out for us in the next video. Thanks!
To me it feels like all back foot. I will try it next time I serve and pay attention to my front foot. If it's any different I will get back to you otherwise I think it's all back foot
If I’m running out of steam on a wave, usually I’d put my back foot forward of the tail pad to help plaining speed. One day I discovered on one particular board, that pumping for speed with my back foot on the tail pad seemed to act as an accelerator. Usually down the line on steep barrelling waves, the back foot forward of tail pad works fine at accelerating, but on flatter gutless waves there’s something going on in the tail…??
Yes, I have a similar experience. on gutless waves, if I am too far back on the pad, what happens is, inadvertently, I'm wheelieing my board because the lack of power/speed makes my tail sink and nose come up, which then pushes water on the entry rocker which slows me down. So for sure, same with me, on gutless waves, I tend to ride my board forward but regarding the toe pressure or heel lift in this video, you can apply it forward or back on the tail. definitely on faster steeper waves, I ride my tail further back. being further back on those type of waves, since the speed keeps my tail up, the bit of pressure i apply to toe side rail, squirts speed.
I hate to hop or bounce in flat sections. I just don’t like the way it looks. None of the surfer’s that I have idolized, throughout my life, bounce or hop, Tom Curren is my all time favorite surfer, hands down!!! When I was a grom - teen, I wanted the flow, style & smoothness or effortless of Tom Curren, but the raw & reckless power of Occy/Pottz. I live on the East Coast of Florida, Satellite Beach area, about 10 minutes from Cocoa Beach. Where there’s a lot of mushy inside section day’s. When I was young, I’d always say, I want to learn how to S turn, rock n roll turn, top to bottom turn, whatever it was called, that’s what I wanted to do. Just watched tons of Tom Curren vid’s & burnt how he would produce speed over flat, mushy or dead sections, into my brain/memory. Then just started trying to emulate it, until I got it right. Lol 😂 At least right enough for me. It 110% comes down to weight distribution by using the toe to heel adjustments & feel. It’s way more fluid & looks way better than hopping or bouncing, in my opinion. You nailed this one! GooDStuFF!!! 💪🙌
Yeah, Curren is my favorite too. What sucked was I had a buddy, a shorter guy, I want to say 5'4 at best. He surfed just like Tom Curren. Not as good obviously but every detail of where his hands were or head turned, or how much his knee was bent and knocked. It was cool watching him cuz I felt like I was surfing with Curren. I could not ever emulate that look/style though. I was super jealous. My favorite was Currens front side top turn/off the lip. Where he would turn his head to the wave at the last milisecond as he kicked out his back foot. Super stylish.
@@ThomyeSurfs That’s crazy! I would’ve been jealous of that guy too. Lol 😂 How are liking that El Tomo? I’ve got a buddies El Tomo at my house. He traded a Lost Hydra for it & it needed some TLC. Been sanding & painting it for him. I really like the shape & those channels on the bottom are sick!!! I couldn’t tell which Firewire Slater board that was behind you in the video. Just curious… If it’s a board you’ve already reviewed or if it’s one you’re going to review, at some point?
@@shannonyoung3465 I love the El Tomo Fish. it works great in almost all conditions so far. The only thing I haven't surfed it in, is big and punchy. But for the most part, it is the most user friendly board I have ever surfed for my level of surfing. I know it is a fish but for some reason, it is the easiest board for backhand surfing. Maybe because it's a quad. The boards behind me are the El Tomo Fish and the Sci-Fi 2.0 which I am hoping to surf tomorrow in some sizeable waves. Hoping the weather allows for filming. It says it might rain which could put a damper on things.
@@ThomyeSurfs Hell Yeah! SUWEET! Thanks for hitting me back on that!!! I’ll make sure to let my buddy know! He’s gonna be stoked to get his El Tomo back!
Now the question is, what's the similar movement applied to backside or the heelside? Lifting the toes up and applying pressure with your heel to the inside rail or using the same movement regardless if you're going frontside or backside?
backside is harder. even the best pros always surf faster off the drop front side. Same basic principle of pop up and apply quick pressure to the heels but you won't have the extra squirt. Speed yes, extra no. haha
Yeah super interesting, I’ve been pondering this same exact thing and thinking it’s about pushing hard on that rear foot toe. What I’ve been thinking about is also how you need to push on the front foot toe to initiate the speed down, and then you push on the back foot toes to redirect that momentum up the face of the wave while lifting the front foot to raise the nose of the surfboard. Is that how you’re thinking about it?
if you watch Curren's clip, you notice he actually extends both legs. the bending of the front leg doesn't need to happen, at least not a huge bend. If you bend that leg too much and too quickly, you end up absorbing the pressure you are trying to create with the back foot. so basically, absorbing your speed. if you watch mason's long clip and kevin's, you notice when they extend, they basically extend both legs at the same time, but as they come out of it, the press on their toes with their back leg which in turn lifts the heel. Best way to describe it would be like you are about to jump. you are compressing/squatting and then extending like you are jumping. but to get that extra squirt, they are leaping off the toe of their back leg.
@@ThomyeSurfs yeah that’s a helpful analogy, so does it make sense that breaking it down even more, I’m jumping with both feet at the same time, but don’t I really initiate with the front foot and then follow through with the back foot? Because I also see that they are lifting their front foot first to direct the board up the wave face as the back foot toe pressure is applied. Or are you really pushing at the same time and only adding a little bit of extra with the back foot?
@@vantvu it's something you don't want to think about. there is a lead and lag but it is so minute that trying to time it almost seems impossible. focus on drawing U - shapes on the face of the wave. but you are correct. and a good place to see this is those guys who mount gopros on the front of their boards looking at themselves. It's a terrible view point but it is funny to watch them pump. You can see the slight lead and lag almost like a wave motion.
Hey, thank you for a great video as always. I'm a beginner, so I don't have good understanding on fundamentals.. So I was hoping that you could elaborate more on why you emphasize toe-side pressure against the rail on your 'back-foot'. Does it mean I shouldn't be trying to put pressure on the toe-side on my front foot? or just not as much as I would on my back foot(cause I imagine lifting my heel on both front and back foot would obviously just make me fall off the board)?
yes, you are leaning slightly forward which does put pressure on both front and back toe side, but, on your front foot, you are putting pressure more on the balls of your feel vs toe while on the back foot, you start with putting pressure on the balls of the feet but then end with actual toe pressure. like you are doing a quick calf lift. But definitely all around pressure on the inside rail. I'll try and do another video on compression and extension with an emphasis on pressure.
I was thinking about this a little more and i think one doesn't because it isn't all that possible. That and you don't really need to because, your leg is over your heel naturally so weight is already on the heel. hope that makes sense.
Any tips for backside speed generation? I always do a bottom turn backside as I haven't figured out how to immediately pump mid face like I often do front side.
I haven't quite figured out a good way to explain it or simplify it. I am thinking about it and will eventually post something. Having said that, I'm terrible backhand. :( I consider myself an advanced surfer forehand and an intermediate backhand. Spent way too much time going left.
Curious your thoughts on how much of the speed comes from putting board on rail? This video (ruclips.net/video/LIX8PF9OfOk/видео.html) from Surf Simply helped me realize how much speed I get from putting board on the rail in bottom turn so the water is flowing differently and giving max lift.
Super important. A deep bottom turn is just that, having a board on rail. Working it down the line are small shallow bottom turns and that toe pressure is actually putting the board on rail for a little bit.
Love your videos. I’ve surfed for 35 years plus and you’ve discussed several tips that I went and implemented in the water and found that they made noticeable improvements in my surfing. Thanks for taking the time to do these!
Oh. My. God! The fact that you picked up on this one minuscule but crucial detail is completely 🤯. For sixteen years I’ve been devouring surf instruction from every corner of the globe and internet, and nowhere have I ever heard mention of this priceless little nugget. Thanks as always for another great video! 🙏💛🤙🏼
As a fellow asian and overthinker, I love the super in depth analysis. Best speed generation video series I've come across on youtube! Keep up the content!
Hehehehe. Me too.
Never heard about this before. Thank you for the tip
Never noticed that before. Thank you.
What funny is if you watch all pro surfers and actually most good surfers, you will see that on the bottom pump, even on certain types of bottom turns, the heel lifts. I notice it from Kelly Slater to Carissa Moore. Everyone knows to apply that toe pressure. The heel lift part is a result of the toe pressure.
You’re videos are great. Thank you for posting, I am going to try this out tomorrow. Will let you know!
Nice pink curtains and wall colour. Great video as always. Looking forward to your videos this year
What about on your backhand? Anything special going on there?
@@terenceingram7786 going to make a huge effort this year to improve my backhand. Planning to go right as much as possible.
Great stuff, I like how you really go through your thought process and come up with some original theories, not just the same vague regurgitated directives you get from a lot of other "how to" videos.
Hearing you talk about having bad knees always makes me wonder if you know about The Kneesovertoesguy. Should check out some of his videos if you haven't
i have not heard of that but will look into it.
Madness bordering on genius. Thanks 😊
I never thought I was doing that until I saw a picture of myself surfing and the photographer caught the exact moment of a heel lift/toe pressure but in my case, I do it with a front foot too. That could be why I bog the rail so much. Nevertheless, your video helped me to learn speed generation. Thanks
Good job Mate!!
Your video on speed generation helped me a lot I’m starting to get down the line a lot faster now as you can see in my latest videos
just checked it out. nice. also subscribed. keep them coming.
@@ThomyeSurfs no way haha, you’re my guru!
Love how you zoom in on these details. Can you now do one for pumping backside?
I might be able to. I realized something backhand just recently that might be of use. stay tuned. :)
@@ThomyeSurfs awesome. Looking forward to it!
Awesome video! Great observation. Question. Does your back foot land in the right spot at back of pad or do u have to place it there? What about when u use mid-length
It all depends. it only lands right when the wave is perfect. if I need to shoot down the line first, I tend to be way forward on my pad. On my 6'8, I'm way in front of my pad. I do step back when I need to turn though. On longer boards, the toe pressure also comes more from the leaning into the turn. but you can step back to put pressure on the toe side rail. Just remember, its that sharp edge on the bottom that gives you the most speed.
very good aspect. I have learn that with WaveKi from Brad Gerlach. Have a look. I have subscribe and I am loving it
definitely will look. Funny thing is that although often he seem overly yappy when he was commentating on the WSL events, his knowledge of coaching was often spot on. He said something that has helped me backhand. He said, don't lean into your turn and that comment alone improved my backhand 2 folds. It still sucks but now I'm progressing and not suck in bad habits.
@@ThomyeSurfs yes on the actual practice you will see that. It is a kind of Functional Training for surfers. Definitely I am surfing better (and I am now 48 )
Nice!
Hi Thomye great tips and glad you’re feeling better. The toe pressure definitely helps. What do you think about the upward lunge of the torso? To deweight the board while applying that toe and rail pressure? I find that really helps too (but only if I’ve managed to pop up properly and avoid feeling the poo man stance…)
Agreed. That does help. Hoping to talk about that a bit in a compression extension video. I find myself unweighting immediately after the toe pressure to allow myself to go back up the wave. It’s hard to say exactly how the timing works but in my head feels like it’s coming after but it could be simultaneous.
@@ThomyeSurfs Cool, look forward to it. If I get the weight and timing right the burst of speed is definitely noticeable. Otherwise it feels like just kinda mashing down on the wave without much gain.
@@mattsmith464 what has always been a funny image to me is the gopro view where the camera is on the surfboard. haha that compression and extension looks so funny but I thought about it because someone asked me, is it only the back leg and I told him no, both legs. but there is a minor stagger, front first then back then toes. but its all within milliseconds. Anyways, I have been actively practicing what I've preached and I have felt a tremendous difference. But for whatever reason, I can do it best on my Firewire GoFish. it seems harder on my other boards like the SciFi2 that i'm trying to review. It is really odd.
@@ThomyeSurfs Interesting! I agree, front then rear, like squirting the water past the rail and fins front to back. For me also the technique works and feels great on my Seaside (to a lesser degree the BP). But when I ride my more ‘traditional’ shortboard sometimes I feel my front and back feet are totally out of sync on the pump and it takes a few waves to adjust. So many factors and kook tendencies at play, and it all goes out the window on backhand ha. But I have found a surf skate on an inclined surface helpful to practice. I’m sure you’ll sort it out for us in the next video. Thanks!
Thank you. But, you also apply pressure on the front foot toes, right? Or do you feel like, or you need to, put way more pressure on the back foot?
To me it feels like all back foot. I will try it next time I serve and pay attention to my front foot. If it's any different I will get back to you otherwise I think it's all back foot
@@ThomyeSurfs Oh thank you! That's an ability I don't have: to think straight while I'm surfing. :D
Thank so much for those "how to" series.Will you think about that upload them to other site?
which sites? Funny thing, I'm in IT (infrastructure) but I don't spend much time on social media. haha. Let me know and I'll look into it.
If I’m running out of steam on a wave, usually I’d put my back foot forward of the tail pad to help plaining speed. One day I discovered on one particular board, that pumping for speed with my back foot on the tail pad seemed to act as an accelerator. Usually down the line on steep barrelling waves, the back foot forward of tail pad works fine at accelerating, but on flatter gutless waves there’s something going on in the tail…??
Yes, I have a similar experience. on gutless waves, if I am too far back on the pad, what happens is, inadvertently, I'm wheelieing my board because the lack of power/speed makes my tail sink and nose come up, which then pushes water on the entry rocker which slows me down. So for sure, same with me, on gutless waves, I tend to ride my board forward but regarding the toe pressure or heel lift in this video, you can apply it forward or back on the tail.
definitely on faster steeper waves, I ride my tail further back. being further back on those type of waves, since the speed keeps my tail up, the bit of pressure i apply to toe side rail, squirts speed.
I hate to hop or bounce in flat sections. I just don’t like the way it looks. None of the surfer’s that I have idolized, throughout my life, bounce or hop, Tom Curren is my all time favorite surfer, hands down!!!
When I was a grom - teen, I wanted the flow, style & smoothness or effortless of Tom Curren, but the raw & reckless power of Occy/Pottz.
I live on the East Coast of Florida, Satellite Beach area, about 10 minutes from Cocoa Beach. Where there’s a lot of mushy inside section day’s. When I was young, I’d always say, I want to learn how to S turn, rock n roll turn, top to bottom turn, whatever it was called, that’s what I wanted to do. Just watched tons of Tom Curren vid’s & burnt how he would produce speed over flat, mushy or dead sections, into my brain/memory. Then just started trying to emulate it, until I got it right. Lol 😂 At least right enough for me. It 110% comes down to weight distribution by using the toe to heel adjustments & feel.
It’s way more fluid & looks way better than hopping or bouncing,
in my opinion. You nailed this one!
GooDStuFF!!! 💪🙌
Yeah, Curren is my favorite too. What sucked was I had a buddy, a shorter guy, I want to say 5'4 at best. He surfed just like Tom Curren. Not as good obviously but every detail of where his hands were or head turned, or how much his knee was bent and knocked. It was cool watching him cuz I felt like I was surfing with Curren. I could not ever emulate that look/style though. I was super jealous.
My favorite was Currens front side top turn/off the lip. Where he would turn his head to the wave at the last milisecond as he kicked out his back foot. Super stylish.
@@ThomyeSurfs That’s crazy! I would’ve been jealous of that guy too. Lol 😂 How are liking that El Tomo? I’ve got a buddies El Tomo at my house. He traded a Lost Hydra for it & it needed some TLC. Been sanding & painting it for him.
I really like the shape & those channels on the bottom are sick!!!
I couldn’t tell which Firewire Slater board that was behind you in the video. Just curious… If it’s a board you’ve already reviewed or if it’s one you’re going to review, at some point?
@@shannonyoung3465 I love the El Tomo Fish. it works great in almost all conditions so far. The only thing I haven't surfed it in, is big and punchy. But for the most part, it is the most user friendly board I have ever surfed for my level of surfing. I know it is a fish but for some reason, it is the easiest board for backhand surfing. Maybe because it's a quad.
The boards behind me are the El Tomo Fish and the Sci-Fi 2.0 which I am hoping to surf tomorrow in some sizeable waves. Hoping the weather allows for filming. It says it might rain which could put a damper on things.
@@ThomyeSurfs Hell Yeah! SUWEET! Thanks for hitting me back on that!!!
I’ll make sure to let my buddy know!
He’s gonna be stoked to get his El Tomo back!
Now the question is, what's the similar movement applied to backside or the heelside? Lifting the toes up and applying pressure with your heel to the inside rail or using the same movement regardless if you're going frontside or backside?
backside is harder. even the best pros always surf faster off the drop front side. Same basic principle of pop up and apply quick pressure to the heels but you won't have the extra squirt. Speed yes, extra no. haha
Yeah super interesting, I’ve been pondering this same exact thing and thinking it’s about pushing hard on that rear foot toe. What I’ve been thinking about is also how you need to push on the front foot toe to initiate the speed down, and then you push on the back foot toes to redirect that momentum up the face of the wave while lifting the front foot to raise the nose of the surfboard. Is that how you’re thinking about it?
if you watch Curren's clip, you notice he actually extends both legs. the bending of the front leg doesn't need to happen, at least not a huge bend. If you bend that leg too much and too quickly, you end up absorbing the pressure you are trying to create with the back foot. so basically, absorbing your speed.
if you watch mason's long clip and kevin's, you notice when they extend, they basically extend both legs at the same time, but as they come out of it, the press on their toes with their back leg which in turn lifts the heel.
Best way to describe it would be like you are about to jump. you are compressing/squatting and then extending like you are jumping. but to get that extra squirt, they are leaping off the toe of their back leg.
@@ThomyeSurfs yeah that’s a helpful analogy, so does it make sense that breaking it down even more, I’m jumping with both feet at the same time, but don’t I really initiate with the front foot and then follow through with the back foot? Because I also see that they are lifting their front foot first to direct the board up the wave face as the back foot toe pressure is applied. Or are you really pushing at the same time and only adding a little bit of extra with the back foot?
@@vantvu it's something you don't want to think about. there is a lead and lag but it is so minute that trying to time it almost seems impossible. focus on drawing U - shapes on the face of the wave.
but you are correct. and a good place to see this is those guys who mount gopros on the front of their boards looking at themselves. It's a terrible view point but it is funny to watch them pump. You can see the slight lead and lag almost like a wave motion.
Hey, thank you for a great video as always. I'm a beginner, so I don't have good understanding on fundamentals.. So I was hoping that you could elaborate more on why you emphasize toe-side pressure against the rail on your 'back-foot'. Does it mean I shouldn't be trying to put pressure on the toe-side on my front foot? or just not as much as I would on my back foot(cause I imagine lifting my heel on both front and back foot would obviously just make me fall off the board)?
yes, you are leaning slightly forward which does put pressure on both front and back toe side, but, on your front foot, you are putting pressure more on the balls of your feel vs toe while on the back foot, you start with putting pressure on the balls of the feet but then end with actual toe pressure. like you are doing a quick calf lift. But definitely all around pressure on the inside rail. I'll try and do another video on compression and extension with an emphasis on pressure.
@@ThomyeSurfs thank you so much for the reply. A big help for me. And yes a video on compression and extension would definitely be great 👍
Would the lift the heel technique work on the backside too? Instead you lift the toes on the back leg?
I guess it could. But I think that would put you out of balance. I will try it though. Hopefully tomorrow. Waves arr so small.
I was thinking about this a little more and i think one doesn't because it isn't all that possible. That and you don't really need to because, your leg is over your heel naturally so weight is already on the heel. hope that makes sense.
Any tips for backside speed generation? I always do a bottom turn backside as I haven't figured out how to immediately pump mid face like I often do front side.
I haven't quite figured out a good way to explain it or simplify it. I am thinking about it and will eventually post something. Having said that, I'm terrible backhand. :( I consider myself an advanced surfer forehand and an intermediate backhand. Spent way too much time going left.
Curious your thoughts on how much of the speed comes from putting board on rail? This video (ruclips.net/video/LIX8PF9OfOk/видео.html) from Surf Simply helped me realize how much speed I get from putting board on the rail in bottom turn so the water is flowing differently and giving max lift.
Super important. A deep bottom turn is just that, having a board on rail. Working it down the line are small shallow bottom turns and that toe pressure is actually putting the board on rail for a little bit.