Do you work out?
I'm sure I'd be learning faster (numbers especially) if I had some muscles to begin with rather than building them by the juggling they are needed for.
I believe, by working out, you're doing nothing for hands andor underarms andor wrists scooping and being swift. Furthermore, I believe, it's small °juggling-muscles° need training (e.g. turn the hand; e.g. do fast correcting throws; ..), you can only and best get by .. juggling. Still, I don't think, juggling is by nature a question of force and effort, but skill and fast reactions automated - best jugglers in the world sure have some °juggling-muscles°, but don't have body-builder's or athlete's utterly °well-defined° arms. It's not about getting the height only, but timing and spacing props well. Anything else would be "power juggling cannonballs" or alike. But, I'm afraid, I'll stay owing any proof, and I'm only level way below the guts of numbers, and I'm curious on what more answers there will be.
I'd disagree to an extend. Strength is very important. I think that Garfield took it too far for juggling, but Gatto got it about right. Gatto still has huge arms though. Have a look at his gym workout section in TBTB. Of course it depends on what kind of juggling you're aiming for though. Any high level numbers juggling (8+ balls or 6+ club) will benefit from some strength training. I used to do weights, but these days I prefer body weight exercises and rock climbing. I also used to do a lot of juggling with wrist weights, which has also helped my girlfriend with 7 balls and 5 clubs recently.
Juggling with wrist weights is an awesome idea. I can't believe it never crossed my mind.
The thing is, I find working out totally boring and a waste of energy, and there's no way to make myself do it consistently over a longer period.
I just wondered how other jugglers felt about the topic.
Little Paul - - Parent #
"working out" doesn't need to be in a gym, or be a chore to be a benefit. You also don't need to be a muscled body builder for it to help your juggling (arguably large muscle mass hinders the fast response you need)
However, improving your base level of fitness is no bad thing - so if you can build a couple of simple, quick exercises into your day it'll benefit you.
I'm the sort of person who likes personal challenges, and competing against myself is a great way to get myself to do something.
One example would be the "100 pushups challenge" https://www.hundredpushups.com which is one of those things I started, never really finished, but found I got something out of anyway. A couple of sets of pushups as soon as you get out of bed in the morning will wake you up, and will strengthen your arms (hopefully reducing fatigue with larger numbers) - but it's not going to turn you into a muscle mary.
Doing something similar with a few basic core exercises will help reduce back fatigue. Your posture when juggling can put strain on your back, so if you can help support your back with your core then while it may not improve your juggling directly, it may well help you juggle more comfortably for longer.
I find running meditative (and I do like my thinking time), but also timing myself over a set route and trying to beat my time was a useful motivator. How does running help with juggling? Well, improving your cardiovascular fitness helps with endurance, you'll should find you get less tired during a juggling session. I found running helped up my energy levels in general daily life (and I really need to get back to it as I've been a lazy sod the last 6 months)
Of the above, I'm still doing the core and the pushups, and they're almost automatic now. I roll out of bed, immediately do a couple of short sets of pushups (20-30 or so) before I head for the bathroom. While I'm waiting for the shower to warm up, I do one set each of 4 or 5 different core exercises.
Then it's into the shower and on with the rest of my day. It's not a long enough routine to get bored, and the goal setting was a useful way to make it into a habit.
Hope that helps?
I can't even imagine myself in a gym. I've tried adding pushups to my daily routine several times, never lasting long. It would just waste all of my juggling energy and make me require another meal per day (and I eat very little, standing on ~60 kilograms - and that's more than I've ever weighed).
I often ride my bicycle which I believe helps a lot with my back. I stopped smoking nearly three years ago, and compared to then I'd say I'm in a good shape, regarding endurance.
It's my hands that are weak. I occasionally do 20 pushups or so and a few pullups after juggling, which is normally followed by sore muscles the next day. Intense juggling yields the same results.
Lately I started getting noticeably better at 7 balls cascade but I'd attribute it to getting some strength in my arms. That's what made me wonder how much faster I'd learn it if I were stronger to begin with.
RegularJugular - - Parent #
From my experience the love of juggling alone is not enough to make me want to exercise, although I do love it when cross-training appears to pay off.
What I'm trying to say is that if you want to learn something beyond juggling, the joy of doing something that may not immediately or obviously pay off for your main aim, should be worth it on it's own merits to you.
Do I work out? I don't think I do enough for it to count, but getting a coherent program is on my to-do list and has been since I started to juggle 10 years ago. However I'm closer than I ever have been to keeping it up now that I am aware of what I stated above. Take from that what you will.
I am not a great juggler who exercises. However many great jugglers do planned exercise and also often do sports of some kind. I strongly suspect there's a link. ;)
JackJuggles - - Parent #
I do, but not for juggling reasons. It does NOT help me, althoug I only do up to 6 balls. It probably helps for numbers
Swimming a little or just floating in the river freshes me up a lot .. partly due to cold water, but also by floating relaxing you. So maybe also take into account effortless (I cling to that - trying on new things only learning to juggle and correcting a lot is hard enough) .. effortless methods of freshening like massages, swimming, sauna, bending, stretching, gymnastics, Tai Chi, loosen up tottering, .. ? ( if that's not old men's stuff :o| .. [should I even hit "post" °Yaaaaarghhh° )
RegularJugular - - Parent #
I had a little go at 5 ball wrist weight endurance this morning and got 110 catches. However after trying a similar amount of time on 5 ball cascade (with no wrist weights) I could only get ~140 catches...
My absolute personal best from when I did 5 balls all the time, was over 1400 catches (without wrist weights).
I'm not sure what this demonstrates exactly. But it seems that accuracy is more important that plain strength. A fun experiment though, also my arms feel like they are flying without the weights. I do believe I should use them more often ;)
Yeah, they must be flying! Something like picking up a basketball after using a medicine ball.
I don't understand these wrist's weights .. they aren't taking part in what movements the hands have to do, no? They mainly work out your underarms movements, no? Do they maybe like `stabilize´ the hands' position? But make it slower (so that scooping will be faster later without)? .. O.o .. So why choose wrist's weights instead of heavier props?
Heavier props mean more risk of injury as the props are colliding with the hand. Also, juggling involves moving the hands up AND down, and hands are normally moving without props when going down.
So if you want to train your arms to accelerate downwards faster than effective gravity, then weighs will help, but props wont.
But it's mainly the other thing. Heavier props are more likely to give you wrist injury, whereas wrist weights aren't.
Little Paul - - Parent #
Heavy props tend to cause wrist problems, especially in those who throw with their wrists rather than their forearms.
So wrist weights are preferred because they're less injury prone
.. leads me to a 2-heavy-ball-barrage-variation-with-unthrown-"2"-s work-out ;o]p
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