Posted:hey. i have just recently started to learn contact juggling...and started learning regular juggling today:] i have two rubber balls which are really heavy,like maybe 200 grams each. so the question (which applies both to contact and regular juggling)-is this too easy? I have the feeling that the heavier the ball the easier it is to balance on the top of your palm,or throw in a neat ark and catch neatly...everything is simpler to do. So this might be good for a beginner,but maybe it's too easy and later i won't be able to juggle lighter balls? Has anyone had that problem? EDITED_BY: looking_for_light (1200989207)
For CJ-ing: I guess everyone's aim is to CJ with acrylics right? So eventually you'll want to use balls of the same weight? That being said when you're just practising I reckon using *anything* that makes it easy to pick up the moves are a good thing - just so you can get the feeling. The "danger" is that the change to acrylics will be quite different and it might take you a while to adjust.
For Jugging: I'm pretty sure it's all personal preference. Onr thing I;d be wary of is that I have a good friend who juggling heavy props and didn't do any warm up...ended up getting tendonitis and can no longer juggle AT ALL.
but as a quick aside: many really good CJers don't go near acrylics, and stick to light balls.
personally i love my acrylics, but i can't wait for the new silca filled (???) 100mms that are relatively light, but stick to you in a way that most balls, heavy or light, just don't
Posted:allright,thank you very much for your comments,thoughts and ball jokes:] aaand...acrylics are kinda heavy,right? i'm probably gonna get some lighter balls for regular juggling. the heavy ones are too big to fit in my hand anyway. um. um. okay.
btw,you get tendonitis by repeating the same motions over and over,or just from manipulating heavy objects in any way? i'd hate to have to switch to a lighter staff:/
Posted:manipulating heavy objects in a repetitious way without warming up I think was this particular reason. The lady in question was juggling FatBoy clubs all the time and didn't warm-up or anything.
Posted:yeah correct warm ups and proper strength training will severley reduce risk of tendonitis if your strength is built up correctly in the required muscles and everything is warmed and mobile you should be fine
A couple of balls short of a full cascade... or maybe a few cards short of a deck... we'll see how this all fans out.
Posted:allrght,well,i'm sufficiently scared since i don't really do the warm up thing. gonna google "warm up for juggling" and see what i find. anyway,i just saw this clip on youtube:
and learnt my first two juggling patterns with...plastic bags! maybe i'll just switch to that,so all of my problems will be solved:]]]]]]]]
Posted:If you can, get multiple types and sizes of balls and practice with all of them. As long as you don't stick to just one kind for a year you should be able to juggle anything (within reason). I taught myself how to CJ ( back in 1994, man I'm old) with one of those chinese chime balls which are tiny. It was harder to learn with the smaller ball but it's all I had at the time and learning the hard way first made using acrylics easier.
Change it up! As far as tendonitis goes, warm up by just doing the juggling movements without juggling, kind of like running in place to get those muscles moving, then stretch everything and start with simple patterns and work your way up to the harder stuff.
Posted:well,that made a lot of sense. thank you:] i don't now much yet,i can't even do the simple 3 ball cascade (i can with plastic bags cause it's like 100x times easier:DD) so i guess,once i learn the first few basic patterns with the set of balls i've got now-i'll try it with other balls,same with CJ:]
Posted:It seems easier because it is, with a heavier ball you have more control as long as you have the proper strength to be able to support the weight of the ball.
Posted:I'm sorry, but everytime I see the title of this thread...
and I thought that we were all immune to ball jokes!
Just to warn you, sometimes it isn't always a good thing to learn to juggle with scalves, because, although its good to get your head round the basic pattern, it teaches you different hand movements than using balls (essentially you're juggling upside down). Some people find (not all) find it very difficult to then translate the juggling into balls.
Anyway, I personally wouldn't recommend heavy balls, particulary for a beginner (we're still talking regular juggling, not CJ) as when you are learning you tend to tense all your muscles up anyway, particularly in your back and arms, and if juggling for long periods of time can cause strain, heavier balls will increase the pressure put on your back and arms.
I haven't known people to find juggling with heavier balls easier, it tends to be more the type of ball, and whether it bounces out of your hands too much (which stage balls can sometimes do compared to sand-filled (or bird seed, or whatever it is they put in them these days) balls. But heavier balls would have less bounce, so maybe some loose filled juggling balls and see how they feel.
Even if you want to build muscle (interesting approach...) heavier balls are not necessarily an advantage, as its about how many repeats you do, rather than weight.
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