Go Retire Psychiatrist

Sena got me a couple of brand-new juggling tee shirts, which meant that I had to come up with a couple of new tricks to cause brand new joint injuries!

I learned from Logan at Juggling Gym that the word “multiplex” doesn’t just mean a movie theater with multiple screens. A multiplex throw is “where you throw two or more balls from one hand at the same time.”

So, I learned how to toss 3 balls from one hand—and they all fell on my head. Some trick, huh?

Actually, the idea is to toss all 3 in the air at once and catch them in a way that resolves into the 3-ball cascade. That requires you, the viewer, to smoke something illegal. Get back to me.

This trick took me a while to learn and I got a pretty sore right shoulder in the process at first. Part of the challenge is to flick your wrist as you toss them up so that they separate in the air, allowing you to claw catch a couple of them and twist your hands fast as lightning to toss them back up in the usual underhand way.

You would not believe how quickly this affected my right shoulder. Sena showed me a couple of exercises to relieve this. They are the crossover arm stretch and the elbow extension. They both require gently removing the affected arm and storing it in a suitcase for a few weeks.

Claw catching the balls is one way of addressing the shoulder issue because you don’t twist your arm. You claw catch them by grabbing them firmly and flicking it up instead.

In fact, in the 3-ball toss, a flick of the wrist is also necessary to get the 3 balls up so that they separate. Otherwise, they all come down at once.

And to do continuous claw catches, you have to flick pretty fast and accurately. I can do maybe 3 or 4 right now. I practiced the claw catch 3 years ago but didn’t make much progress.

Flicking the 3 balls under the leg was impossible at first, which didn’t make much sense because I can manage getting one ball under my leg OK. When I flicked them up from right under the knee joint, it got easier.

When my shoulder heals up, I’ll be back for more punishment!