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Comment by jamses | Hacker News Reader

I tried and failed to learn to juggle three balls many times, I've just got terrible coordination. But one day I stood over a bed and just threw them in the air and listened to the rhythm of the "thuds" as the missed balls hit the mattress. As soon as I'd got that down it was like a switch clicked and my hands knew "when" to be ready for the catch, rather than trying to follow the balls to catch them. I never managed four, so mileage may vary with this technique, but it was a very surprising lightbulb moment.

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I had a friend who had absolutely terrible coordination.

I would bet against him being able to learn three balls.

But he was very dedicated. Long story short. After many years he could comfortably juggle 6 (six!) balls.

It looked wobbly, he still looked like a person without coordination, but the balls somehow stayed in the air.

I wonder if his coordination in other areas has improved as a side effect?

I know mine sure did! As a kid I was totally uncoordinated, always the last one to be picked for any sports teams. But I definitely noticed the difference when I picked up juggling as a young adult.

I do some light juggling adjacent activity, and I think it's absolutely improved coordination in other ways. When things randomly fall unexpectedly now I feel like my hands snap out and catch them so much more deftly than before. And with a crawling baby in my life now, I'm often catching them as well.

Greatest pride was catching a tumbling beer at a party, and getting called spider-man.

I had the same experience.

Getting good at juggling makes things fall down noticeably slower. But despite getting really good at juggling, I haven't observed any other super powers.

Four is just two in each hand. Learning to do that one hand at a time is a nice addition to a three ball cascade. You hold the third in your other hand, and it's a good source of jokes.

You can do four-out-of-five, which is a five ball cascade with a missing beat (just as how you learned two-out-of-three while learning initially). Unfortunately it's very hard and still doesn't impress people.

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