I'm almost 60, and I spent 25 years unable to juggle due to chronic pain from a nerve injury. I was just getting into 4-ball tricks when I had to stop. When I finally started to see some relief from the pain and could *move* again, I needed to get back into shape, both mentally and physically. I decided to dive back into an old hobby and see what I could do.
After 6 months of physical therapy and getting the feel of juggling back, I had to start almost from scratch - I could juggle a cascade, but most tricks needed to be practiced for days or weeks to get any skill back. I wanted to rebuild muscle tone as well, so that was fine, but I needed a significant but reachable goal. I'm a bit of an overachiever in some ways, and I wanted to really stretch myself, so I set a goal to learn to juggle *5* balls.
I didn't just start on 5 right away, I spent a couple of years relearning 3 and 4-ball tricks, then working on tricks that lead up to 5 balls, (like 3 in one hand, well beyond my previous skill level), and finally with all 5 balls at a time.
I still don't quite have it, I can't get more than 20 throws of 5 without losing it, but that's 4 complete rounds of "juggling 5 balls," and I WILL keep improving.
I've also become known to all my neighbors and their kids, as I do most of my practicing outside!
So yes, it's possible to get back into it after years away, and to gain significant skills even after 50. Just remember to take care of your elbows - my improvement is delayed by tennis elbow at the moment, and it's not the first time.
Good luck!
I’m only 19 but there’s a juggler on this sub u/SadLetterhead5735 who is 73 years old. He learned how to juggle 3 balls at 66 years old and is learning tricks at 73 years old. If he can do that I wholeheartedly believe you can learn the factory. You’re coordination may be rusty but it’ll come to you. With practice and time you can learn anything.
Taylor’s videos are great for learning tricks but you can try a few different videos from other people to get their perspective if you feel it helps.
It may be difficult but you can do it. I think the best way to learn new tricks like these is mastering the individual components to the trick and then putting them all together like you’re doing by getting solid at columns.
I like to screen record videos of people doing tricks so that I can watch them back in slow motion or frame by frame to figure out tricky parts. I also like to record myself trying the trick to compare myself to others doing it.
I focus a lot on my form and how my body is moving more then anything when trying a trick over and over. I try not to worry much about wether I successfully caught a throw. I try to focus on making the throw or move as efficiently and accurately as I can by focusing on how my body is moving to make that throw.
This is just my two cents I wish you the best of luck in learning the factory I believe in you!
Actually you are too young for Factory :):)
At your age I have learned a lot of new things. For example , I have learned how to drive a car and got my driving licence. Next I have learned how to do 360 grads turns with my Mitsubishi Lancer like in Need-for Speed 5. At age 65 I learned one-hand-stand. Yes, I am still working on my 441 trick , but currently i am more focused on learning French language by myself with Duolingo and Pimsleur.
I'm 49. Look at my profile, standing on a ball juggling balls and clubs and devil sticks. Coordination is good as ever and it's supposed to be good for your brain doing these intense mental exercises like juggling
Juggling is making itself useful in pickleball I'm learning. I seem to have no problem getting my hand where it needs to be rally fast and accurate
Hi, there is definitely not an upper age to learn or relearn to juggle. The adult body and brain may need more practice to learn a trick, but it has the advantage of being able to better assess when a trick is actually learned. If you could juggle those patterns before, you can definitely relearn anything you lost. And I bet your hand-eye coordination is still there. It just may not be what you expected because your arm and wrist muscles may need some working out before they will respond as you remember or intend.
Here's my anecdote/story. I'm 44, and I got back into juggling in January 2023 after a 20-year absence. I originally learned to juggle in the early 2000's at RIT in Rochester, NY Jeff Peden's juggling class and got up to a decent 5-ball cascade pattern before I left college and stopped practicing. When I decided to seriously get back into it and develop a routine to reinforce good habits, I found that the patterns I actually knew came back to me quickly. However, anything that I didn't have the muscle memory for had to be relearned from scratch. It was a bit humbling learning how to throw doubles and do basic club patterns with 3 clubs when I was working on 5-ball endurance runs.
The best trick I've nailed since I got back into it was a kick up during a 3 club cascade into a 4-club fountain. I've never been able to hit that trick again, though I think I will at some point. I'm currently working on trying to nail 1 round of Anthony Gatto's 5-ball multiplex/jumping jack trick (I'm not sure what to call it) from his famous Cirque de Soleil video. I'm working my way up to 5 clubs and 7 balls. I set myself a goal of making it to the 1-minute mark in an IJA 5-club and 7-ball endurance game before I hit 60. And as an ultimate goal, I want to be able to eventually do a run of 5-club backcrosses equal to my age.
I’m 72 and qualified my 5-ball cascade last year. As you get older you have to watch out for repetitive strain injuries. Doing weights and resistance training helps, but I still have to limit my juggling time to a few 15-minute sessions a day. So I’m improving, but extremely slowly.
To be more specific, this is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill, fifteen percent concentrated power of will, five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain and a hundred percent reason to remember the name.
Sure ;-) Juggling is fun for sure, but you also need some dedication and the willingness "to bite your teeth into something new". You will be rewarded with a new ability for sure ;-)
And - maybe also very important and not mentioned before - go baby steps. This means, you slowly iterate to your desired goal. Do every baby step until its solid, then the next one.
Pretty much in the same boat. Started juggling in my 20s. Haven't juggled in a while, now 50 and getting back into it. Didn't take much to get back to 3 balls patterns, but now I'm starting clubs and that's going slow, but I'm making progress. Keep at it!
I learned three-ball cascade at 52. Not *relearned*, but actually learned for the first time.
On top of that, I'm someone who didn't really play sports as a kid, never really tossed the baseball around with my Dad in the backyard, etc. My general "throwing and catching things" skills were pretty dismal. But I'm a believer that talent is largely a myth, and that it's more about just putting in the work, so I plowed on through with the Taylor Tries video.
This is where I'd like to tell you that now I execute dozens of patterns/tricks flawlessly, but nah. :-) I do an okay three-ball cascade, can toss in a few things like tennis and 423. Still working on columns and dropping more than I'd like. Something like Factory is a loooong way down my personal road. Giving clubs a go for a while now with little success, but no rush (a smidgen of encroaching arthritis sure doesn't help there).
If had the time and gumption to really put in the hours of practice, I know I'd be better at it and improve faster. That's probably the biggest hurdle at my age more than physical/mental condition: competing demands on your time.
Another problem that adult learners often have is that they're not used to being lousy at something. When you're a kid, you're terrible at things all the time, and it's no big deal. It's all part of learning life. But as adults we tend to spend most of our time doing things we're already good at. You can forget what it's like to be a beginner, with the patience and acceptance (and fun!) that goes with it.
Anyway, as with learning anything, it's all about breaking it down into the smallest learnable chunk, and working on that until you've mastered it. So yeah, if you need to dial it back to two balls in the left hand, do that. And if you're making too many mistakes there, then dial back to *one* ball in the left hand, and so on. Enjoy the ride, wherever it takes you.
45m. I've been off an on for years. Learned 3 balls cascade 2 in 1 both hands, and some tricks when I was 12 or so. I always had that down, but was never too serious about it. Learned 3 clubs when I was 37, took a week or so to get it right, another few months to feel confident. I'm currently working on 4 balls, been about a month, I can get 8-10 catches before I lose my rhythm, I'm guessing another few months to get it fully. I feel like the only thing keeping me, or other adults from learning faster is time. when you're a kid you can spend all day working on tricks practicing. Now I'm lucky if I can 30-60 min of practice a day.
I learned in my mid-forties—never learned at all when I was younger. I’ve always been super uncoordinated, so a three ball cascade took me forever to learn, but it’s fairly solid now. Haven’t gone much past it, though: two balls in one hand is about the only other thing I can do, and only really with my dominant hand.
Even that is pleasantly soothing, though. I really enjoy it.
I teach circus & my observation has been that in the case of juggling the difference between learning as a child and as an adult is that kids learn faster but adults understand their learning process better and therefore can be far more consistent in their progress.
I suspect that there's also more neurological benefit to training juggling the older you are when you're doing it.
Makes completely sense for me -- the young ones go skyrocket if they catch something up but might miss structure. For me it seems if you want numbers 7+ then you have to start pretty early. I would wonder if there are many numbers juggler out there that have started with 40+.
I'm 35 - learnt a few tricks with 3 balls about 20y ago, did nothing on juggling for 2 decades and started to juggle semi-seriously as a hobby about 5y ago: I've flashed 9b, qualified 7b, run over 2 mins of 5b and learnt a bunch of tricks and siteswaps along the way. Currently working on 4 clubs and 5 rings to broaden my scope. Could I have learnt faster? For sure: with dedicated coaching, with more time spent training, etc etc.
I think your goals are very modest and attainable. Don't be fooled by the selection bias of the online portrayal of a niche activity: most well-known jugglers you see online have put in an enormous amount of work, often of a quality and quantity that is hard to come by if you have multiple adult responsibilities that take up time. Joining a local juggling club will quickly show you how diverse skill ranges and ages can be.
In the end, you (and I) probably learn slower than a 12-year old, but we all hit certain barriers or hard tricks at some point, where progress is so slow that it doesn't pay off for your situation any longer. Does it really matter whether that's at 8 or at 10 balls, for instance? I think it feels similar, all that is different is the subjective appreciation of a trick's objective difficulty. As long as you are having fun down the line (and I say down the line because not all juggling training is always fun, and it doesnt have to be), it does not really matter.
I'm almost 60, and I spent 25 years unable to juggle due to chronic pain from a nerve injury. I was just getting into 4-ball tricks when I had to stop. When I finally started to see some relief from the pain and could *move* again, I needed to get back into shape, both mentally and physically. I decided to dive back into an old hobby and see what I could do. After 6 months of physical therapy and getting the feel of juggling back, I had to start almost from scratch - I could juggle a cascade, but most tricks needed to be practiced for days or weeks to get any skill back. I wanted to rebuild muscle tone as well, so that was fine, but I needed a significant but reachable goal. I'm a bit of an overachiever in some ways, and I wanted to really stretch myself, so I set a goal to learn to juggle *5* balls. I didn't just start on 5 right away, I spent a couple of years relearning 3 and 4-ball tricks, then working on tricks that lead up to 5 balls, (like 3 in one hand, well beyond my previous skill level), and finally with all 5 balls at a time. I still don't quite have it, I can't get more than 20 throws of 5 without losing it, but that's 4 complete rounds of "juggling 5 balls," and I WILL keep improving. I've also become known to all my neighbors and their kids, as I do most of my practicing outside! So yes, it's possible to get back into it after years away, and to gain significant skills even after 50. Just remember to take care of your elbows - my improvement is delayed by tennis elbow at the moment, and it's not the first time. Good luck!
Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it!
I’m only 19 but there’s a juggler on this sub u/SadLetterhead5735 who is 73 years old. He learned how to juggle 3 balls at 66 years old and is learning tricks at 73 years old. If he can do that I wholeheartedly believe you can learn the factory. You’re coordination may be rusty but it’ll come to you. With practice and time you can learn anything. Taylor’s videos are great for learning tricks but you can try a few different videos from other people to get their perspective if you feel it helps. It may be difficult but you can do it. I think the best way to learn new tricks like these is mastering the individual components to the trick and then putting them all together like you’re doing by getting solid at columns. I like to screen record videos of people doing tricks so that I can watch them back in slow motion or frame by frame to figure out tricky parts. I also like to record myself trying the trick to compare myself to others doing it. I focus a lot on my form and how my body is moving more then anything when trying a trick over and over. I try not to worry much about wether I successfully caught a throw. I try to focus on making the throw or move as efficiently and accurately as I can by focusing on how my body is moving to make that throw. This is just my two cents I wish you the best of luck in learning the factory I believe in you!
Thanks so much for your reply, I think just general lack of practice time in adult life will make things slower. I'll get there!
Actually you are too young for Factory :):) At your age I have learned a lot of new things. For example , I have learned how to drive a car and got my driving licence. Next I have learned how to do 360 grads turns with my Mitsubishi Lancer like in Need-for Speed 5. At age 65 I learned one-hand-stand. Yes, I am still working on my 441 trick , but currently i am more focused on learning French language by myself with Duolingo and Pimsleur.
I'm 49. Look at my profile, standing on a ball juggling balls and clubs and devil sticks. Coordination is good as ever and it's supposed to be good for your brain doing these intense mental exercises like juggling Juggling is making itself useful in pickleball I'm learning. I seem to have no problem getting my hand where it needs to be rally fast and accurate
Hi, there is definitely not an upper age to learn or relearn to juggle. The adult body and brain may need more practice to learn a trick, but it has the advantage of being able to better assess when a trick is actually learned. If you could juggle those patterns before, you can definitely relearn anything you lost. And I bet your hand-eye coordination is still there. It just may not be what you expected because your arm and wrist muscles may need some working out before they will respond as you remember or intend. Here's my anecdote/story. I'm 44, and I got back into juggling in January 2023 after a 20-year absence. I originally learned to juggle in the early 2000's at RIT in Rochester, NY Jeff Peden's juggling class and got up to a decent 5-ball cascade pattern before I left college and stopped practicing. When I decided to seriously get back into it and develop a routine to reinforce good habits, I found that the patterns I actually knew came back to me quickly. However, anything that I didn't have the muscle memory for had to be relearned from scratch. It was a bit humbling learning how to throw doubles and do basic club patterns with 3 clubs when I was working on 5-ball endurance runs. The best trick I've nailed since I got back into it was a kick up during a 3 club cascade into a 4-club fountain. I've never been able to hit that trick again, though I think I will at some point. I'm currently working on trying to nail 1 round of Anthony Gatto's 5-ball multiplex/jumping jack trick (I'm not sure what to call it) from his famous Cirque de Soleil video. I'm working my way up to 5 clubs and 7 balls. I set myself a goal of making it to the 1-minute mark in an IJA 5-club and 7-ball endurance game before I hit 60. And as an ultimate goal, I want to be able to eventually do a run of 5-club backcrosses equal to my age.
I appreciate your reply and viewpoint. I now know I am not alone! Thanks
I’m 72 and qualified my 5-ball cascade last year. As you get older you have to watch out for repetitive strain injuries. Doing weights and resistance training helps, but I still have to limit my juggling time to a few 15-minute sessions a day. So I’m improving, but extremely slowly.
Thanks for the info, and the hope!
its not age its fitness and health and talent
well, I've got 1 out of 2 of those
...and will & determination and discipline ...
To be more specific, this is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill, fifteen percent concentrated power of will, five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain and a hundred percent reason to remember the name.
Yeah just wanted to add dedication and obsession, because without that youre going nowhere
Ok, this list is getting longer by the minute....
Sure ;-) Juggling is fun for sure, but you also need some dedication and the willingness "to bite your teeth into something new". You will be rewarded with a new ability for sure ;-) And - maybe also very important and not mentioned before - go baby steps. This means, you slowly iterate to your desired goal. Do every baby step until its solid, then the next one.
...passion, perseverance, ...
1 out of 5....?
... and a vision! 😄
Pretty much in the same boat. Started juggling in my 20s. Haven't juggled in a while, now 50 and getting back into it. Didn't take much to get back to 3 balls patterns, but now I'm starting clubs and that's going slow, but I'm making progress. Keep at it!
I learned three-ball cascade at 52. Not *relearned*, but actually learned for the first time. On top of that, I'm someone who didn't really play sports as a kid, never really tossed the baseball around with my Dad in the backyard, etc. My general "throwing and catching things" skills were pretty dismal. But I'm a believer that talent is largely a myth, and that it's more about just putting in the work, so I plowed on through with the Taylor Tries video. This is where I'd like to tell you that now I execute dozens of patterns/tricks flawlessly, but nah. :-) I do an okay three-ball cascade, can toss in a few things like tennis and 423. Still working on columns and dropping more than I'd like. Something like Factory is a loooong way down my personal road. Giving clubs a go for a while now with little success, but no rush (a smidgen of encroaching arthritis sure doesn't help there). If had the time and gumption to really put in the hours of practice, I know I'd be better at it and improve faster. That's probably the biggest hurdle at my age more than physical/mental condition: competing demands on your time. Another problem that adult learners often have is that they're not used to being lousy at something. When you're a kid, you're terrible at things all the time, and it's no big deal. It's all part of learning life. But as adults we tend to spend most of our time doing things we're already good at. You can forget what it's like to be a beginner, with the patience and acceptance (and fun!) that goes with it. Anyway, as with learning anything, it's all about breaking it down into the smallest learnable chunk, and working on that until you've mastered it. So yeah, if you need to dial it back to two balls in the left hand, do that. And if you're making too many mistakes there, then dial back to *one* ball in the left hand, and so on. Enjoy the ride, wherever it takes you.
Thanks for your input! As an adult I am still very familiar with being rubbish at a great many things!
45m. I've been off an on for years. Learned 3 balls cascade 2 in 1 both hands, and some tricks when I was 12 or so. I always had that down, but was never too serious about it. Learned 3 clubs when I was 37, took a week or so to get it right, another few months to feel confident. I'm currently working on 4 balls, been about a month, I can get 8-10 catches before I lose my rhythm, I'm guessing another few months to get it fully. I feel like the only thing keeping me, or other adults from learning faster is time. when you're a kid you can spend all day working on tricks practicing. Now I'm lucky if I can 30-60 min of practice a day.
I learned in my mid-forties—never learned at all when I was younger. I’ve always been super uncoordinated, so a three ball cascade took me forever to learn, but it’s fairly solid now. Haven’t gone much past it, though: two balls in one hand is about the only other thing I can do, and only really with my dominant hand. Even that is pleasantly soothing, though. I really enjoy it.
Sure you can learn that easily, np at all!
Oh to be forty five! I could do *so* much back then. You are not too old.
I teach circus & my observation has been that in the case of juggling the difference between learning as a child and as an adult is that kids learn faster but adults understand their learning process better and therefore can be far more consistent in their progress. I suspect that there's also more neurological benefit to training juggling the older you are when you're doing it.
Makes completely sense for me -- the young ones go skyrocket if they catch something up but might miss structure. For me it seems if you want numbers 7+ then you have to start pretty early. I would wonder if there are many numbers juggler out there that have started with 40+.
I'm 60 and sound like I'm about where you are now - so um just imagining how freaking good I would be if I'd had fifteen years practice.
I'm 35 - learnt a few tricks with 3 balls about 20y ago, did nothing on juggling for 2 decades and started to juggle semi-seriously as a hobby about 5y ago: I've flashed 9b, qualified 7b, run over 2 mins of 5b and learnt a bunch of tricks and siteswaps along the way. Currently working on 4 clubs and 5 rings to broaden my scope. Could I have learnt faster? For sure: with dedicated coaching, with more time spent training, etc etc. I think your goals are very modest and attainable. Don't be fooled by the selection bias of the online portrayal of a niche activity: most well-known jugglers you see online have put in an enormous amount of work, often of a quality and quantity that is hard to come by if you have multiple adult responsibilities that take up time. Joining a local juggling club will quickly show you how diverse skill ranges and ages can be. In the end, you (and I) probably learn slower than a 12-year old, but we all hit certain barriers or hard tricks at some point, where progress is so slow that it doesn't pay off for your situation any longer. Does it really matter whether that's at 8 or at 10 balls, for instance? I think it feels similar, all that is different is the subjective appreciation of a trick's objective difficulty. As long as you are having fun down the line (and I say down the line because not all juggling training is always fun, and it doesnt have to be), it does not really matter.