Learning something new or a new skill can sometimes seem daunting. If you are wanting to learn juggling, there are many ways you can learn with either a teacher or online videos.
Is Juggling Easy or Hard To Learn?
Everyone is different and has different capabilities with learning a new skill. Basic juggling can be learnt in time, the basics are easier to learn than more complex juggling.
But of course there is much more to say about this topic.
Here is some more in depth information.

Is Juggling Hard To Learn?
As a totally unknown skill to your brain, juggling takes time to learn. There is no a specific learning time applied to all people.
However, with some intense practice, you are about to grab the basics in 15-20 minutes.
This is the rough time in which your plastic brain understands what is going on and quickly adjusts to the new circumstances and tasks.
In about 20 minutes, you will be able to do a couple of throws without dropping the ball. But not more.
After a few successful throws and catches, your untrained brain and body will give up. Consistency is the hardest to master ability in juggling.
You may spend months until you finally learn to juggle for 5 minutes and more without interruption.
It’s the same with your childhood experience of learning to ride a bike that has no support wheels.
After your dad or mom let you face the road alone, you would ride in straight line about 50 meters, then you’d start to lose balance.
In best case scenario, one of the parents would be there for you to prevent you from bumbing into a fence or tree.
In juggling, there is no tree you risk to collide with, yet the path to consistency is as harsh and full of challenges.
Why Is Juggling Hard?
So, what impedes you from starting juggling for minutes in a row after the very first class?
As easy as it might seem at the first sight, juggling is an incredibly complex skill. It combines several other skills that must work in perfect harmony to help you juggle consistently.
They include hand-eye coordination, muscle memory, analytical thinking, fast reaction, rhythm and timing.
Sounds quiet frightening and hard to achieve, doesn’t it? Indeed, your unprepared body isn’t good at these skills in the beginning of your juggling learning journey.
The good news, though, is that these abilities are innate, so you have them as anybody else does.
They are just underdeveloped, unless you practise some sort of sport where reaction or hand-eye coordination is crucial.
Improving each of these skills while making them work as a team requires a lot of practice and dedication.
You have to help your brain build a perfect pattern and then follow it to the finest detail. Here are some tips to help you master juggling easier and faster:
• Don’t worry if first attempts of juggling fail. Stress and irritation make you lose focus and drop balls repeatedly.
• Use balls of the same size and weight.
• Practise indoor to avoid wind changing the balls’ trajectory and sun blinding you.
• Start juggling with your better hand (the one you write with), as it allows you get a better control of the process.
• Begin with juggling 2 balls, then move on to 3 and 4 balls.
• After dropping the balls many times in a row, take a break to refocus and get rid of negative thoughts.
• Listen to some music to help you catch a proper rhythm.
• Juggle above a coach or bed to prevent wasting time on running after dropped balls.
How Many Months Does It Take To Learn Juggling?
You will find it quiet easy to master the basics of juggling. If speaking of two-ball juggling, it isn’t a big deal at all. Five minutes of practice will be enough to do it like a pro.
You are expected to spend more time on grabbing the basics of 3-ball juggling.
After 20 minutes of training, you can reach the milestone of 5-6 catches. If this is your goal, congratulations, you made it to an amateur juggler.
But, if you target the expert level, you have to work a lot on your consistency.
Depending on the plasticity of your brain and how developed your motor abilities initially are, you may spend from a few days to some months on mastering consistent juggling.
Dedication and motivation also play a crucial role in how fast you will get flawless at juggling. The point is that the chance that you might give up halfway due to slow to no progress is quiet high.
That’s why, it is of utmost importance that you believe that getting to 100 perfect catches someday is possible.
You have to understand that your brain may need more time to develop the required juggling pattern.
Rushing is not a solution, as it will only make things worse. You are best off to leave your brain learn at its pace.
How Long Does It Take To Learn Juggle 3 Balls?
Three balls is the standard number of balls used in learning juggling.
You will find it too easy to juggle 2 balls and too hard to toss 4 balls. So 3 balls is the middle point you have to focus your juggling learning efforts on.
Learning to juggle 3 balls without dropping the ball at short intervals usually takes about 1 month of practising. But, this time is not set in stone.
Your brain may master new skills both slower and faster than an average person’s brain. As such, it isn’t something out of the ordinary if you manage to master 3-ball juggling in one week or in two months.
Learning to juggle 3 balls comes with a number of difficulties. Your ability to overcome them will determine how fast you will get to the pro level.
Some major challenges you are going to encounter include throwing the ball at the required angle and at the required height, tracking the ball and predicting its trajectory, catching the ball without looking at it, and reacting fast.
In the beginning, you will find it extremely hard to keep up with the insane sequence of tasks. You will mistake the sequence just as you fail to keep so many things under control when learning to drive a car.
Luckily, just as it happens with car driving, practice makes the brain learn the algorithm of actions by heart and save it in its long-term memory.
After a while, you will start juggling without tracking the ball trajectory and thinking how much power to put in when throwing the ball. You will handle juggling at the subconscious level. Here is a good article on how to juggle 3 balls.
How Long Would It Take To Go From Not Being Able To Juggle To Juggling Four Balls?
Juggling 4 balls is even harder than juggling 3 balls. Hence, you are expected to spend even more time on mastering this skill.
If you focus on the 4-ball pattern from the beginning, you can grab its basics in 3-5 hours. Basics mean not more 5-6 catches followed by a ball drop.
If you want to learn to juggle 4 balls just to prove to your loved one or friends that you can, it may be enough.
But, if you want to get to 100 continuous catches, you need to focus heavily on consistency. It can be achieved only by sticking to a strict practice routine.
If your brain has a high degree of plasticity, you can master consistent 4-ball juggling in 3-4 weeks. If you are a slower learner, you may obviously need more time to achieve your goal.
Jumping straight into tossing 4 balls into the air isn’t the best way to start your juggling learning journey. You may start having 4 balls in your hands, but the learning process will be tedious and exhausting.
You are recommended to practise juggling 2 balls in one hand in the first place.
This is actually the skill that lies at the foundation of 4-ball juggling. Once you get comfortable tossing 2 balls in one hand, you can step up your game with 4 balls in 2 hands.
This smooth transition will ensure a faster and easier learning process with less stress and balls colliding with each other and falling on the floor.
Why is juggling a soccer ball so hard?
Juggling a soccer ball seems as easy as ABC. You drop the ball to one foot, kick it, and while it’s in air, you change the foot.
In fact, this skill is way trickier than you might think. Soccer ball juggling depends on several factors, including body positioning, gravity, velocity and balance.
Balance is the trickiest of them. After the first juggling of the ball, you have to place the foot on the ground and lift the other one. Generally, the brain finds it easy to coordinate such an exercise of balance.
But, when you juggle, a moving object comes into play.
Aside from monitoring the change of foot, the brain has to track the trajectory and speed of the flying ball. Too much information makes the brain decide which task to pay more attention to.
This may result in a loss of balance and failing to kick the landing ball in a way that guarantees a long juggling series.
Fortunately, with much practice, you start to feel the ball without having to consciously think about its trajectory and velocity. This allows you to focus more on the positioning of your body and finding balance.