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Editor’s Note: Learn how to land your first tune or take your aerial game to new heights. Sign up for Matt Meola’s Guide to Aerial Surfing on Inspire Courses to access a life of innovation above the lip. Matt Meola’s Guide to Aerial Surfing is supported by Rockstar Energy.

Matt Meola will tell you that he doesn’t think he should be giving other surfers safety tips. Her whole body would probably agree. His Devil-may-care style has destroyed both of his knees on several occasions, he’s given him back injuries to recover, and the list goes on.

But being careful with the wind is also the exact reason it has taken aerial surfing to new heights. And the truth is, all of those cuts and bruises taught him a thing or two about how to avoid serious cuts and bruises as much as possible. So where is the balance between progression and safety? Because injuries are inevitable in all disciplines of sport.

“Preventing injury can be done, but then you start to drift away from engagement,” Matt says in his new digital course with Inspire Courses: Matt Meola’s Guide to Aerial Surfing. To put it bluntly, “it’s about finding the balance between engagement and” Is it just plain stupid? ” I tend to play with the silly side a bit, but I think that’s important if you want to do revolutionary things.

For those working at a level where above the lip surfing is even a consideration, it all starts with understanding when you’re ready to start learning and trying out tunes.

“Surfing has to become almost second nature, like walking or riding a bike,” says Matt. “It has to be something where you take off on the wave and going from A to B isn’t something you think about, it’s just something that happens.”

When you’re no longer thinking about a lower turn or figuring out when it’s time to take a cut, Meola says you’re good to go. From there you have to commit to every attempt, trying to land “absolutely everything”.

“Unless it’s totally dangerous, or your board has flipped over in the air and you think you’re going down on your fins, don’t. But if you’re on top of your board, always go for the landing.

From there, there are “a lot of things you can do to avoid hurting yourself,” he says. “Take your board off at the end if you think landing is just impossible”, for example. “The more commitment you have, I feel like the less you hurt yourself because you feel so comfortable on your board.”

At this point, you begin to realize and control things that can seem out of hand, such as the way you fall and how to avoid hitting your board if a fall is inevitable. Everything becomes safer with commitment and representatives.

“It’s all trial and error, and the more you keep going, the more you’ll learn the hard way. But it’s important to become a safer surfer. You will be less secure at the start. Once you are very comfortable falling into difficult situations, you start to hurt yourself less.