Reddit reviews Martin Sports Juggling Scarves, Set of 3

I can juggle a bunch of different things. I just tried with tissues. They suck. Get juggling scarves (available cheaper elsewhere, but I can't be bothered to find a reputable non-Amazon store.)

I've taught in the order of 20 people how to juggle balls, nobody taking over three hours to learn.

The pattern for teaching somebody to juggle 3 balls in cascade is this:

1. Train scarf juggling, using the below training pattern, up until you have control of juggling three scarves in the cascade.
   
2. Start again from the beginning, using balls/beanbags.
   
   For each step in the training sequence described below, practice until you can do ten "perfect" throws in a row. Juggling is about the throws, not the catches - the catches should be effortless. When you hold a scarf, you hold it from above, in the middle of the scarf, having the scarf hang down. Throws are movements and releases. Catches are grabbing the scarf from above. The throw movement for a scarf is essentially starting with your hand about hip height on the natural side, and moving the hand (w/scarf) over to be aligned with your opposite shoulder, and then dropping the scarf. When you hold a ball, you cup it resting on your hand, your upper arm hanging down from the shoulder and the lower arm pointing directly out (90 degree angle at the elbow). When you catch the ball, it is in an upwards open hand at the same level and position. When you throw a ball, throw from there to about to about eye height, going across to land in your other hand (which should not have to move much.)
   
   The scarf juggling is primarily to get a feel for the rhythm and gross movements of juggling the cascade (the standard 3-ball juggle); the precision tricks and very slow extension of counts described below are only necessary for balls, for the initial scarf training you can go forward as rapidly as you are able, just stepping back to learning the previous step better if a step seems hard. For ball juggling, I recommend being strict about the ten perfect rule, and re-test that on the previous step if you find any step hard to learn.
   
   The sequence:
   
   
3. Single object throw. Throw from your left hand to your right, then from your right to your left. Practice until you can do this "perfectly" (nothing you notice you can improve) ten times back & forth.
   
4. Left to right exchange. Start with an object in each hand. Throw the object in your left hand towards the right hand, when that object is at the top of its arch, throw the object in your right hand towards the left hand, catch with both hands, return to base position. Repeat until you can do ten "perfect" in a row.
   
5. Right to left exchange. As 2., but in reverse. Again, repeat until you can do ten perfect.
   
6. Interchange. Do one left to right exchange, stop, then one right to left exchange, stop, then one left to right exchange, stop, etc. This is essentially always starting with a particular ball rather than always starting with a particular hand. To ten perfect.
   
7. Left right left exchange. Start with an object in each hand. Throw the object in your left hand towards the right hand, when that object is at the top of its arch, throw the object in your right hand towards the left hand, then stop. This is essentially doing the two steps from point 4. but without a pause between them. To ten perfect.
   
8. Right left right exchange. As above, but starting with the right hand instead. Guess how many times you need to be able to do this perfectly.
   
9. Extend number of repeats, consistently leading with one ball. For each increase in count, make sure you can do it starting from either the left or the right hand. To be able to count both number of perfect repeats and length of a sequence, I like to use "A B C ... J" to count the number of perfects, and 1 to 10 to count the number of repeats I do.
   
10. You are now juggling but with a "hole" instead of a ball in your juggling pattern. Insert a ball there! Start with two objects in your left hand and one in your right. Throw first from the left hand, when that is at the top, from your left, when that is the top, from your right, then catch and stop. Repeat to ten perfect.
    
11. Extend from 1 to 10 and A to J on this too.
    
12. You are juggling!
    
    A problem some people have is that they "cheat" - they move around while doing their catches, thus not making their throws precise before trying to get on the next step in the training sequence. If you don't end up reliable with the sequence (ie, each step in the sequence feels like it is harder to master than the previous one), try mastering the previous one properly. I have two things I use to force people to do this:
    
    
13. Balance a book on your head while doing the throws. This force you to stand still.
    
14. Wear a blindfold. This force you to do precise throws.
    
    These techniques are usually not necessary for scarves - scarves are fairly tolerant - but they are fairly often necessary for balls. I'd try the book balancing first, and if that doesn't make you stable, try the blindfold, and if that doesn't either, try both at the same time.
    
    Another problem that some people have is that their pattern isn't flat - they're weaving back and forth at different distances from their body. I make people juggle with a wall right in front of them to make the pattern flat if their pattern isn't. (This is something I've only done for balls.)
    
    Finally, a common problem is looking too much at what you're juggling. I have people fix their eyes forward; if you want to have some support from your eyes, juggle in front of a mirror rather than fixating your eyes down and looking at what you are juggling.
    
    Hope that helps - if you run into any kind of problem, feel free to ask - I probably have more techniques for working around problems, these were just the ones that came off the top of my head. I also have reasons for why to do each of the things described.