How to Juggle Columns With Four Balls

Four-ball juggling is provides the technical foundation you need to learn more advanced styles of juggling. What's nice about four-ball technique is that it's based on two-ball technique, which is much simpler and easier to learn. When juggling four balls, it's best to start with a columns pattern.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Make sure you're comfortable juggling two balls in columns in one hand. Without this technique, you won't be able to do columns with four balls.

2. Hold two balls in each of your hands. Generally, one should sit on your fingertips while the other rests in the palm of your hand.

3. Toss one ball from each hand into the air toward the outside of your body. As a guide, the balls should be slightly wider than shoulder width apart.

4. Throw the remaining two balls into the air as the first two begin to drop. Release them so they're closer together than the first pair.

5. Catch the first two balls you threw and immediately toss them back into the air along the same trajectory. Repeat this pattern of tossing and catching to create columns with all four balls.

Tips & Warnings

• Each ball should travel along a completely vertical path.
• Do your best to throw each ball at the same height. This allows you to establish a smooth-flowing rhythm while you juggle the columns.
• Change the pattern of your columns as you get better at juggling them. For example, try tossing the first and third columns together, then throwing the second and fourth.

Resources

• Here's a good animation of the four-ball synchronous columns.