After someone learns how to juggle 3 balls, a lot of people want to learn how to juggle 4 balls. The biggest problem with learning how to juggle 4 balls is that the pattern is different. On its surface, it doesn’t look that much different. If you are just a casual viewer (like most of us are), we don’t pick up on the fact that when someone is juggling 4 balls they don’t cross.

The secret to juggling 4 balls is that you are just juggling 2 balls in one hand, with each hand. The balls don’t cross at all. Weird, right?

I first learned this from a kid at a golf competition when I was about 10 years old. I was pretty good at juggling 3, but I couldn’t quite figure out how to do 4. This was way before YouTube was around so I couldn’t just youtube “how to juggle 4 balls” and watch a video like you get to.

I walked up to the kid and asked him how he did it and if he could teach me to do it. Sure enough, he said “you just juggle 2 balls in each hand, they don’t cross”

Well, it wasn’t probably that straight-forward. But the lesson was that I needed to practice how to juggle 2 balls in one hand… and then do it again with the other hand.

After that golf tournament, I went home and practiced and practiced until I got it. What happened next was that I needed to teach my family and friends, since I knew how to do it. That led me to challenge them to juggle 2 balls in each hand and get comfortable at it.

After teaching countless people over the years though, I figured out a little bit better technique.

So for you, I want you to practice 2 balls in one hand for 50 consecutive throws without dropping or messing up. Being able to go 50 throws without messing up means you have gotten pretty good at juggling 2 balls in one hand, which will make 4 balls easier.

Once your dominant hand gets to the point where it can go 50 throws, it’s time to make sure your weaker hand can do it as well. This part is a bit harder because you won’t be as good. But, practice will make you better. So you want to make sure both your left and right hand can do 50 throws without dropping or messing up.

Once you can do that, you’ll be able to juggle 4 balls.

It’s simply alternating the throws between your hands, just like you practiced. You don’t cross the balls, and you want to make sure you don’t throw the balls at the same exact time. This will allow you to get a rhythm built up and in the video, you can see what I mean.

When you try to throw the balls at the same time, it’s harder for your eyes to recognize the position of both balls, so there’s an increased chance that you’ll drop.

When you alternate just a bit, you’ll have time to move your eyes a bit more so you can make sure that you catch every throw. You’ll need to practice this to get good at it, but that’s just like with anything.