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How to juggle: a guide to learning how to juggle with 3 balls and then moving on to 4,5 or more objects

Learning how to juggle is a worthwhile pursuit for a variety of reasons. For the beginner the benchmark is generally to learn how to juggle 3 balls and then move on from there there are literally thousands of different juggling tricks/patterns that can be learnt and many are easier if you have a solid 3 ball pattern. In the following I will discuss choice of equipment, how to juggle 3 balls and where to go from there.

Juggling equipment

For a beginner no special equipment is required some people learn to juggle with tennis balls, apples or even eggs! Here are a few tips if you are going to buy some juggling balls:
- make sure you can comfortably fit 2-3 balls in your hand
- they should weigh between 100-150 grams each
- go for bean filled ones at first rather than bouncy ones otherwise you will spend all your time chasing them

How to juggle 3 balls

To start with you should be standing with knees at shoulder width and slightly bent. Now take one ball and practice throwing it from hand to hand:
- the ball should be thrown to a height of about one metre
- keep your hands at about shoulder width
- use a scooping motion to throw the ball
- avoid moving your body to catch the ball it should be thrown so that it lands near the other hand

Once you have mastered this take two balls (one in each hand) and begin by throwing the right hand ball. When it reaches its peak height throw the ball on the left. Now catch (with your left hand) the first ball you threw. Then catch the other ball in your right hand. Now repeat by throwing left first and then right. This may take some time to master but once you can do this consistently you are ready to try 3 balls.

Okay now take two balls in the right hand and one ball in the left:
- throw right
- throw left
- catch in left, throw right
- catch in right, throw left
- repeat.

There you have it once you can do this for 5-10 throws in no time you will be able to juggle without having to concentrate.

What Next?
Heres a few tricks you could try:
- juggle two in one hand, do this is both hands and you can juggle 4 balls
- crossed arms
- under the leg throws
- behind the back throws
- five balls just the same pattern as three but much faster (this will take some time to learn)

There are plenty of other tricks you can find on the web, in books or even at your local juggling club. Keep on juggling.

Learn more about this author, Jack Brooks.
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