Juggling Thread

[skilewis74]

Pretty pricey for me but I might get some.

Now in 5 more two-tone colors for 8 total, plus 3 solids (white, blue, red).

[BillyTheMountain]

Does anyone get any repetitive stress injuries from juggling clubs?

Any preventions tips?

[skilewis74]

Any tips on getting past Plateaus?

W/ 4 ball fountain I've been stuck at ~ 20 catches w/ a PB of 50 for months.

Lots of juggling of similar but easier tricks or the fundamentals has helped w/ other stuff. So a lot more of this?

Originally Posted by BillyTheMountain

Does anyone get any repetitive stress injuries from juggling clubs?

Any preventions tips?

I've never had any problems w/ balls, even juggling for up to 6 hours.

W/ 3 clubs if I go much past a hour my wrists get sore. I can extend this time to ~ 2 hours by practicing fundamentals of very difficult (for me) patterns w/ one or two clubs. Ideally I'd practice clubs twice a day (eg in morning and at night).

Wrist and thumb stretches for 30-45 sec every 20 min helps.
-Pull fingers back w/ streight arm.
-Fold hand under, w/ streight arm, trying to touch fingers to the under side of my arm and then closer to my elbow.
-Interlace fingers w/ pinkies up, bring hands down towards me, then up to my head and over my elbows trying to streighten my arms all while keeping my grip tight. Reverse the grip and repeat. (I can only get my arms ~ 100 deg streightened)
-Same as the last one but when your hands get near your face pull the elbow of the hand that's closest to you up and over the other elbow and back w/o losening your grip (I completely loose my grip by the time one elbow gets in the crux of the other).

[skilewis74]

Originally Posted by skilewis74

Any tips on getting past Plateaus?

W/ 4 ball fountain I've been stuck at ~ 20 catches w/ a PB of 50 for months.

Lots of juggling of similar but easier tricks or the fundamentals has helped w/ other stuff. So a lot more of this?

I can now do 20-30 more consistently but no change in my PB. Keeping up motivation to practice has been harder, only ~ once a week for the last few months.

[feel the light]

Originally Posted by skilewis74

I can now do 20-30 more consistently but no change in my PB. Keeping up motivation to practice has been harder, only ~ once a week for the last few months.

Injuries. Try to look at the bright side, it shows you are pumping the game. The key is to find the sweet spot, then call it a day. For instance, I performed 3 torches in one hand for about 5 seconds a show. To make that reliable, I needed to to do 10 sec shots, maybe 20 a day, in practice. To do more would be counter productive, setting me back. It's like having your hand slapped with a stick to much in one day. It is very hard on the hand. I really should of worked on my left hand more with this trick, but whatever.

I also developed something I called greening of the elbow, from practicing 5 or 6 ball showers, circles (fountains?)to much in one day. I had a habit of going to parties with other hot jugglers where we would go all day. At least some of us did , most would pass clubs a for a bit and then stop and debate counting methods and waste air time.

To become a great juggler , like a fighter pilot, air time is key, it's the only way to learn. The other hot tip is don't be right, or left handed. You will advance much faster if you do the tricks mirrored to each side. Don't buy into that "I am right handed" crap. Or that some people are ambidextrous. Better jugglers simply practice on their weak side more.

Motivation. This is a controversial subject. What worked for me was a basic love of show biz, having hot girls around to show off to, and a bit of pot. Great music is good to, but friends and the pot were best. Coffee is good to.

Here is a benefit show I did I did 25 years ago. It's odd to see me on a stage , but it was a bunch of street performers not doing their regular show. I was spoofing my beach persona, my street clothes were top rate. I posted this a few years ago, I just wanted to show you I did learn something. I would post a uni vid to, but honestly I'm not so good at that yet.

busker hall of fame 19 - YouTube

[GILD]

Originally Posted by skilewis74

I can now do 20-30 more consistently but no change in my PB.

Have you considered increasing the height of the pattern slightly?

Slowing everything down just a smidgen and buying you a bit more time to improve the quality of the throws?

Just a thought.

[feel the light]

Originally Posted by GILD

Have you considered increasing the height of the pattern slightly?

Slowing everything down just a smidgen and buying you a bit more time to improve the quality of the throws?

Just a thought.

Not to piss you off GILD, although it likely will. what with you being south african and nearly as ugly as me and all.

You cannot just slow juggling down, not even half a smigeon, what ever that is, not even metric. Must be a south african thing.

But anyway, throwing stuff higher increases the speed it comes down at, while increasing the difficulty of getting the throw right, so it comes down in your hand. Bad angles become further off, the higher you throw them.

No, not trying to be disagreeable here, or brag that I am almost certainly the best juggler on the forum, and perhaps the best street performer as well.

Air time. I know some of the very best jugglers ever. Personal friends. They all spent lot's, no, lets make that amazing huge amounts of time throwing stuff in the air. If there was a short cut,(other than the don't play one handed side thing), I don't know it. Maybe just love the game, because it's going to take lot's of air time to be a top juggler. Sometimes I would go all day, a slow day was 2 hours plus 2 street shows. But usually , I was more into the game than that. Make every day count.

[skilewis74]

+1
Height is a trade off. Everyone needs to find the height that works for them, and trying more height might help or might not.

My ideal seems to be 150-175% the height of my 2 in on hand.

Prob one of the best things in the past has been to practice a variety of similar tricks every day.

Something I've been working on is 2 in one hand & 1 in the other, switching every 5 cycles my PB is < 20

[feel the light]

Originally Posted by skilewis74

+1
Height is a trade off. Everyone needs to find the height that works for them, and trying more height might help or might not.

My ideal seems to be 150-175% the height of my 2 in on hand.

Prob one of the best things in the past has been to practice a variety of similar tricks every day.

Something I've been working on is 2 in one hand & 1 in the other, switching every 5 cycles my PB is < 20

Looks awesome, I can throw throw clubs higher than you guys. Kinda one of my specialties. The signature high final throw. Crowds love it. The only issue there is that they come down real fast. And of course you must be adept at catching either end, cause after 5 spins, most of us just wing it and focus on straightness. And I missed sometimes and broke about a set of torches every year. Wind gusts to, an issue. Once I had to rush forward and caught a torch in a baby carriage. Left a black smudge on the kid, but the kid didn't cry, I almost did though. Scared me more than the crowd (they think everything is part of the show). Even his parents tipped me, but no, that was not good.

Oh yeah, and I developed a ganglion cyst in my left hand from the beatings, but it got better.Both Barret Faulker, and Ignotov warned me that could happen, and they were right.

But height is cool. Perhaps the most powerful ball juggler I have ever practiced with was Sarafian. He throws them the highest of anyone. But that's not what got him in the guiness book. Air time. Hang out with him and see if you can keep up. He is a machine.