Learn to Juggle: 5 Tips for 3 Balls

Pick up three balls right now and try to juggle them. If you seriously followed that, you just did what 100% of people who begin juggling do; drop a ball. I won’t even hesitate to tell you that I once had a hard time even imagining myself juggling the elusive three ball cascade. Interestingly though, at the end of the first day, I actually got in a few catches! When I started, sadly, there was nobody around to tell me that I was doing pretty much everything wrong. These 5 tips should speed up the process of learning how to juggle and will help you in the future if you decide to continue. (4 balls?)

1)Don’t just start with all three balls.
Never try to start with all three balls. I know it seems strange to hear that; if you want to learn to juggle three balls, you have to juggle three balls. The key to juggling is breaking down a pattern into its parts and then learning those parts individually. Then you simply combine them. For the three ball cascade, try starting with one ball until you can get the throws perfect in each hand. Then go on to two; this will essentially simulate the three ball cascade. Then, you can go up to three balls.

2) High vs. Low Pattern: Whichever you want.
This is something that differs between jugglers. Some will prefer high patterns while some will prefer doing them low. High patterns are often more difficult for beginner jugglers because they require lots of accuracy, even though it feels as if it would be easier. Low patterns, on the other hand, depend less on accuracy and more on hand speed. Try it yourself; juggle a high pattern as best as you can and then try a low one. Whichever feels more comfortable, go with it.

3)Pretend as if your hands don’t exist.
When I started, I would look at my hands while I attempted to juggle the cascade. As I continued, I began looking at the top of the arcs of the balls I was throwing. What does this do? Surprisingly, it makes juggling easier. Doing it, however, is harder than it sounds. Don’t worry too much about it, but just try to do it as much as you can. As you juggle more, you will instinctively do it, passively helping your pattern.

4) Juggling is 70% mental, 30% physical.
Well, those numbers are very relative, but it’s around there. When you learn a new movement, your brain tries to remember it by creating neurological pathways to make it more natural and easier. As a result, you can’t force yourself to learn a new pattern. Practicing twenty minutes a day is nearly the same as practicing five hours a day. It simply takes time for your brain to work everything out.

5) How to mark progress; the 10 and 50 rule.
This is a rule that I follow and many others do as well. Once you reach ten catches in the three ball cascade, you’ve “learned” the pattern. Your brain has the essentials of it down. Ten catches is referred to as a “plateau”, though, because it seems incredibly difficult to go past that. By your third day of juggling, you should already be at ten catches. As you continue to practice, though, you will slowly ride over of the plateau and reach 11, maybe 12, maybe 13 catches. The more catches you get, the easier it becomes from then on. The final part of the rule is once you reach 50 catches, you are considered to have “mastered” the pattern. Keep going until you can run it indefinitely. Time to learn more patterns and juggle more balls!