Most beginners I talk to think their problem is popping up. It's almost never popping up. It's that they're so wiped from paddling that by the time a wave comes, their arms are noodles and the pop-up never had a chance. Paddling is the foundation. If your paddle is weak, nothing else works. So I want to share a drill I started doing two summers ago, ripped off honestly from a friend who swam D1 in college, and it has made the biggest single difference to my surfing of anything I've ever done.
Why surfers gas out
Surf paddling isn't like swimming laps. You're prone on a board, neck arched up, lower back engaged the whole time. Your stroke is short, the resistance is constant, and you're doing it for ninety minutes with no rest. Your shoulders, lats, and lower back take the hit. If you've never trained those muscles for that specific endurance pattern, you'll burn out fast no matter how fit you are otherwise. I know runners who can do a marathon and can't paddle for twenty minutes. It's a different engine.
The drill: 4 x 8 minutes
Here's what I do, twice a week, in flat water (the harbor at Otter Cove is perfect — no swell, no boats early morning). You need a board, a leash, a watch with a timer, and forty-five minutes.
Round 1 (8 minutes): Paddle at a steady, medium pace. Not racing. Just consistent. Pick a buoy or a piling about 100 yards out and paddle to it, turn, paddle back, repeat. Keep your stroke long, hand fully extended on the entry, full pull through the hip. Don't slap.
Rest 90 seconds. Float, breathe, look around. Don't get off the board.
Round 2 (8 minutes): Same paddle, but every minute, do a 15-second sprint. Hard. All-out. Then back to medium pace until the next minute mark. Eight sprints in eight minutes. This is brutal. The first time I did it I almost rolled off the board on minute six.
Rest 90 seconds.
Round 3 (8 minutes): Steady medium pace again. Focus on form. Are you still pulling all the way through? Are you breathing through your nose or panting? Try to drop your heart rate without slowing down.
Rest 90 seconds.
Round 4 (8 minutes): The "session" round. Paddle medium, but every two minutes, simulate a duck-dive or turtle roll (depending on your board). Push the nose under, hold for three seconds, come back up, keep paddling. This trains the explosive recovery you need when sets stack up on you.
Then you're done. 32 minutes of work, 4.5 minutes of rest. Your arms will feel like wet rope. The next morning you'll know what muscles you used.
What it actually does
The medium-pace rounds build aerobic base. The sprint round builds the anaerobic capacity you need to make a peak before it closes out. The duck-dive round trains the explosive movement plus recovery, which is the exact movement pattern of getting through a set. Together they hit the three energy systems you actually use in a surf session.
I started this in the spring of 2024 when I was getting smoked on bigger days at Pelican Bluff. By midsummer I could paddle out, sit through a long lull, and still have the gas to chase a set when it came. Same waves, same break, totally different experience.
WILLIE'S TAKE: "I DON'T PADDLE. I AM CARRIED. THIS IS THE SUPERIOR EXPERIENCE."
A couple things I had to learn the hard way
First, do this in flat water. Don't try it in the surf. The whole point is that you can control the variables and just train the engine. Do this at Otter Cove or any harbor on a Tuesday morning when there's no swell and the boats aren't out yet. Water 60°F, sun barely up, peaceful.
Second, eat something an hour before. I learned that one by bonking out on round three with a stomach full of nothing but coffee. Now I do half a banana and a piece of toast.
Third, don't do this on session days. Do it on your off days. If you do this on Friday, you'll regret it Saturday morning when there's actually surf.
How long until you notice
Two weeks of doing this twice a week and you'll notice you're not gassed at the end of a session. Four weeks and you'll be able to chase outside sets you used to let go. Six weeks and you'll start wondering why you ever thought paddling was the boring part.
Try it for a month. If you hate it, blame me. If it works, send me a photo of you on a wave you wouldn't have caught two months ago. My email's on every wax wrapper.