Tag: ordinary juggling

Side By Side Steal Juggle

We took a couple days to get the hang of the side steal juggle. It’s not easy and a lot of the throws look more like sneaky passes than steals. But it’s a lot of fun!

Sena juggles with her arms really reaching for the sky, like she’s getting robbed—which actually fits this complicated crime of a juggling trick.

You have to get a feel for whether you feel more skilled by reaching with your left or right hand when trying to steal your partner’s juggling balls. That dictates on which side you stand. One of the key points is to stand fairly close together.

It helps to toss the balls a little high and close to the juggling pane of glass so that you don’t have to reach too far out in front or you or too far behind you.

We counted the initial throws just to get started. After the first steal, it got too difficult for us to keep track of the count and a free style pattern began to emerge. We traded balls 4 times and Sena was gunning for 5. We almost got there.

Because we were so close together, ball collisions were common, making it important to time throws.

Side by side, shoulder to shoulder, this is a juggling trick in which teamwork is the key. It really helps you develop more skill with the 3-ball cascade.

Juggling Updates

Well, I’ve been juggling for a year now. I have been trying to learn the shower juggling pattern for 6 months. I can still do only about 3-4 throws. I think it’ll happen eventually.

All of the juggling balls are downstairs on the lower level since all the upstairs doors were repainted. We can’t scuff them up by dropping juggling balls anymore.

We’re working on a new two person juggling trick. It’s a variation on the steal. It’s a side-by-side steal pattern and it’s more difficult to do than the front steal. We have to orchestrate it a little, sort of like the ever-popular Wolfgang Amadeus (“Bud”) Mozart’s Symphony No. 573.8 in J Minor, Op 74: II. Andante Pizzacata Beef Jerky de Bigfoot. I bet you’re wondering how I got to know so much about classical music. Anyway, we’re getting there.

We’re both working so hard on juggling that our shoulders are sore. I do a total of 200 throws of the cascade every day in addition to other tricks. Sena does air juggling at the dinner table. Maybe we should be doing some shoulder mobility exercises.

I’m pretty consistent about wearing safety goggles. Sena won’t wear them. You should comment that she ought to start right now. Thank you.

Geezer Level One Leg Stand Juggling

This is just a suggestion for whoever’s on the rules committee for juggling world records. Recall that a couple of young guys grabbed world records for longest time juggling the 3-ball cascade while standing on leg.

The current world record is a little over 22 minutes. Wow!

I think there needs to be a new category—for older persons like me. I can tell you I can’t get past a few throws while juggling the cascade on one leg.

I’ve made a short YouTube on the kinds of allowances the world juggling records judges might consider for geezers.

I might have a ghost of a chance to set a world record in my age group if the officials decide they like my idea.

Sena and Jim Do Two Person Juggling Again!

Against all odds, Sena and I did what looked impossible the other day—Two Person 5 ball 2 Count Asynchronous Juggling. For some reason that was harder to learn than the first two person juggling trick we learned.

You can find only a stick figure GIF of how the trick is done on the web. It’s harder than it looks. It took us about 3 hours to get it right. It’s hard to appreciate how it’s done in a YouTube when the jugglers are shown from a side view. On the other hand, the balls fly in every direction and moving the camera closer might have resulted in knocking over the tripod.

It’s not a competition, even thought it reminds you of a table tennis match. You have to put the ball where you partner can catch it. The pattern is similar to the cascade in that on count 1 you throw a ball from one hand to the other and on the two count you pass a ball to your partner. The count is very important.

It’s very important to lob the balls up fairly high. This gives you enough time to catch what’s flying at you.

It’s great exercise. You can see why I wear safety goggles.

Clumsy Juggling

We decided to kick it up a notch with our two-person ball passing juggle routine. We switched out three of the bean bag Zeekio balls for some glowing LED juggling balls.

The LEDs are bigger and heavier than the bean bags, which led to more challenging passes. They also look better in low light, so it was a little harder to see the balls flying at us. We really didn’t know when we’d have to change our grip—so we often ended up losing our grip.

Clumsy juggling is fun juggling.

Discover Tandem Juggling Just for Fun!

I found out about tandem juggling yesterday and learned how to do it from a YouTube video by genius juggler Niels Duinker and his sidekick, Piet van Steen. Sena and I picked it up pretty quickly.

It’s a wide frame form of the 3-ball cascade. All we had to do was practice throwing a little wider and higher. It’s a very entertaining way to play catch.

You still have to throw the balls within the pane of glass. You also have to compensate for each other’s height. The two of you have to stand pretty close together, basically shoulder to shoulder.

This is a barrel of laughs and great exercise as well!

Every Minute Counts in Physical Activity for Health Even If Your Step Counter Does Not Count It!

If you want a quick read for how every minute counts in physical activity for your health, see the JAMA article “Physical Activity for Health—Every Minute Counts” (Katzmarzyk PT, Jakicic JM. Physical Activity for Health—Every Minute Counts. JAMA. 2023;330(3):213–214. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.11014).

Just for fun, I tried to see if about 5 minutes of juggling would result in a change in the step counter on my cell phone. Unfortunately, it didn’t but I sure could feel the effort!

As the authors state, public health recommendations for physical activity set a bar of 150-300 minutes a week of moderate intensity aerobic activity to get substantial health benefit.

But you benefit from just about any increment below that level. Your step counter probably won’t register it, but you can feel it.

I made a short demo video to show what good exercise juggling is. I didn’t cut any mistakes (and obviously increased the speed on it because 5 minutes is a bit long). Anybody can tell I’m pretty puffed out at the end.

Try juggling for physical activity!

Sena Looks Out the Window

Yesterday Sena practiced her usual 2 or 3 minutes of juggling and then took a break to look out the window. She likes to see how the garden is coming along in the backyard.

In fact, lots of things go on in our backyard garden and beyond. Critters are entertaining. We’ve seen all kinds of birds, deer, turkeys, and even cats catching their dinners.

There are some pretty talented mousers who hunt on the property. Sena got pretty excited when she filmed one catching what she thought was a mouse.

Juggling with New Safety Goggles

I got new safety goggles the other day. They’re to protect me when I juggle. They’re made by Sattron and Sena got them on Amazon at a good price for 3 pairs. They fit over my eyeglasses. These were my old eyeglasses, which I’ve since replaced with brand new ones. I’m still a little nervous about wearing the goggles over those.

The goggles come with a cleaning cloth and the bows are adjustable. They adjust at the temples up and down through 15 degrees (up, intermediate, and down). It’s hard to move them. You have to really crank them. I don’t think they make that much difference. The length adjustment is a little quirky. You pull them out or push them back in. It’s a ratchet setting adjustment. The soft silicone nose pads will leave smudges on your glasses.

They’re anti-fog, anti-UV, but unfortunately not anti-drop. On the other hand, when a juggling ball drops on my head, I’ll be protected because they’re impact resistant.

Juggling and The Wings of Change!

The other day we were at Terry Trueblood Recreation Area mainly to see how juggling goes outdoors for me. We filmed the event for posterity.

It turns out that “wings” had a lot to do with it. I juggled next to Hilde DeBruyn’s sculpture “Winds of Change.” It’s my favorite sculpture, although the winds of change are dictating that the Iowa City Parks Dept. is again going to accept new sculptures for this year which will replace all of those currently on display.

Wings figured in a different way and you can tell by how I react to the bugs flying around. We picked a nice spring day when all the winged insects were buzzing around in my face.

The level of juggling difficulty goes way up when gnats are zipping up my nose, my ears, my mouth, etc.