To achieve the BEST push offs, which means traveling further and faster with less effort, the entire body needs to stay straight.  This is called core control.  This means that the body is somewhat rigid, from the tips of the fingers, to the point of the toes.. and everything in between.

Practice your push offs holding as tight a line as possible, without moving anything.  Locking the thumbs, squeezing the arms around the head, pointing the toes as much as you can, and not allowing the body to bend in any way.

If you’re new to this, and TRULY try to achieve this position…. don’t be worried if THIS happens to you.  In time, we’ll try to control this, but this is when the air in your lungs takes over and rolls the lungs toward the surface.  The good news is, you can learn to control this with your core (torso and stomach), and you won’t typically stay in this position so long that it will happen.  Fighting this by twisting your body, or kicking, or using your hands, won’t teach you the correct position… so again, if this happens… we congratulate you on sticking with the position!

You can adjust how far you go by pushing off a bit shallower, which should get you to the surface a bit sooner and also start to get you to the perfect 3-point pop-up, which we’ll discuss in the next lesson.


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Core Control