Improve Your F2L Look Ahead With Turbo Tracking

[jskyler91]

As *** as the heart may be it was meant towards the from 15 to 13. I've been trying at that for quite a while now and he did it in a day... So it's <3

Good to here that people are enjoying this. It is extremely important that you stay focused while you are doing this so that your mind gets used to being fully concentrated. I used to space out a bunch while solving and this really helped me. Just to make sure everyone know, I went from 15 seconds to 13 in a few days, not 1.

This is an interesting idea. I just tried it for a bit now, and it is actually pretty difficult - more than I thought it would. Using only RU's wasn't bad, but when I do any random moves faster than solving speed, it gets tough.

It is great practice, I have been doing one edge and one corner lately.

 

[emolover]

I just can't see how you do this so well. I am struggling to keep track of a single piece if I go faster then 240 tpm(4 tps) and if I try to track an entire F2L pair I fail within ten moves.

 

[jskyler91]

I just can't see how you do this so well. I am struggling to keep track of a single piece if I go faster then 240 tpm(4 tps) and if I try to track an entire F2L pair I fail within ten moves.

Practice, it sounds lame, but you will get better at it with time. Also, as you get better at it, you will also probably also notice that your f2l look ahead gets better as well.

 

[chrissyD]

14.09, 15.12, 15.14, 16.94, 14.09 = 14.78

Avg of 5 after doing a bit of this. Definitely an interesting idea and I'm freezing so I would normally expect my times to be a lot worse.

 

[PhillipEspinoza]

Wow. I really think you maybe on to something with this.

Although I think for me, a lot of my lookahead also involves keeping track of the piece(s) by feeling their position as well as tracking. This exercise I think will definitely help with tracking though.

EDIT: Can we rename this technique Zero-ing? Like you're zeroing in on the piece.

 

[nitay6669]

this seems to work for me, im fine with tracing 1 piece. an edge or a corner but when i try both of them i fail miserably

 

[StachuK1992]

EDIT: Can we rename this technique Zero-ing? Like you're zeroing in on the piece.

Don't you think that would be confusing with the other zeroing?

On a more serious note, my eyes have been opened.
I haven't exactly been cubing recently, but I tried this out this morning, and I can feel something. I've been in the 'standard' mindless solving mode for a while now, and this definitley helped me actually be a bit challenged. I think a very important part of cubing is being able to still find things that challege you, even when you've done them a few thousand times (F2L).
I'm really looking forward to seeing how this goes. Thanks!

 

[jskyler91]

Wow. I really think you maybe on to something with this.

Although I think for me, a lot of my lookahead also involves keeping track of the piece(s) by feeling their position as well as tracking. This exercise I think will definitely help with tracking though.

EDIT: Can we rename this technique Zero-ing? Like you're zeroing in on the piece.

That would be funny, but not really specific since you aren't just doing one piece in the more advanced stages of this technique. I am totally up for renaming this if others think the name is silly; I just came up with the name on a whim so that i could refer to it concretely. I think Turbo tracking is pretty good since it basically you tracking when you are going really fast, or Turboing. I also thought of calling it: Speed Tracking, Look Ahead Speed Tracking or (LAST), Turboing, and Skyler Tracking (a little to self serving in my opinion), but I thought Turbo Tracking was the most fitting. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Don't you think that would be confusing with the other zeroing?

On a more serious note, my eyes have been opened.
I haven't exactly been cubing recently, but I tried this out this morning, and I can feel something. I've been in the 'standard' mindless solving mode for a while now, and this definitley helped me actually be a bit challenged. I think a very important part of cubing is being able to still find things that challege you, even when you've done them a few thousand times (F2L).
I'm really looking forward to seeing how this goes. Thanks!

No problems, I am not the type of cuber who holds onto my new techniques, I would rather share them to make everyone better. I have also been working on a new 2 minute finger warm up video to give you guys some quick tips on how to warm up your fingers properly and fast without hurting/overstressing them. I figured you guys would like this one better though so I did it first.

 

[Edward]

FOSP Tracking (said like Fawsp)
(Focusing On Specific Piece)
"Hey man, any tips for lookahead?"
"Yeah bro, use FOSP"
"FOSP?"
"Yeah man, it's like, scramble the cube, while you track certain pieces. FOSP stands for "Focusing On Specific Pieces"

 

[jskyler91]

FOSP Tracking (said like Fawsp)
(Focusing On Specific Piece)
"Hey man, any tips for lookahead?"
"Yeah bro, use FOSP"
"FOSP?"
"Yeah man, it's like, scramble the cube, while you track certain pieces. FOSP stands for "Focusing On Specific Pieces"

That is an interesting idea, I am not trying to be obstinant, but I actually think Turbo sounds better in those sentences. If we just shorten it to Turbo when we are referring to it than that would sound cool. Using your examples:
"Hey man, any tips for lookahead?"
"Yeah bro, use Turbo"
"Turbo?"
"Yeah man, it's like, scramble the cube, while you track certain pieces. Its actually called Turbo Tracking and the Turbo refers to the speed at which you scramble"

 

[choza244]

Thanks, very good exercise, at first is harder than I thought.

BTW, I also like "Turbo Tracking"

 

[Edward]

That is an interesting idea, I am not trying to be obstinant, but I actually think Turbo sounds better in those sentences. If we just shorten it to Turbo when we are referring to it than that would sound cool. Using your examples:
"Hey man, any tips for lookahead?"
"Yeah bro, use Turbo"
"Turbo?"
"Yeah man, it's like, scramble the cube, while you track certain pieces. Its actually called Turbo Tracking and the Turbo refers to the speed at which you scramble"

Just don't like how it can be confused with this.
Turbo is def a nice name though

 

[MiPiCubed]

I have come up with a way to practice this with computer generated scrambles. Pick a corner, and while looking at the scramble, try to track the corner throughout the scramble. After scrambling, check the cube to see if you correctly tracked the corner in your head the whole time. Works great!

 

[tozies24]

This seems to be a pretty good way for practicing. I haven't done too much of it, but I have noticed that it is "easier" to look for the next f2l pair. I think that it works because if you are practicing always looking for the piece at hand. It made my f2l seem a lot easier and a bit faster. My brain was able to just move on to the next f2l pair because i was used to constantly tracking a piece or two pieces. very good idea

 

[Cool Frog]

Am I the only one that can do this easily?
I havn't necessarily practice this but I would sometimes randomly do this subconsciously while hand scrambling (Except I scramble with my eyes closed)

I can do this with my eyes closed rather easily.

 

[jskyler91]

Am I the only one that can do this easily?
I havn't necessarily practice this but I would sometimes randomly do this subconsciously while hand scrambling (Except I scramble with my eyes closed)

I can do this with my eyes closed rather easily.

Add more pieces to make it a better exercise. Also if you are currently tracking corners, try edges and it may be harder.

 

[Cubetastic]

I kinda do solves at night in bed, i close my eyes and imagine a cube and solve it while tracking all the pieces, but this is very interesting

 

[avgdi]

I actually tried this yesterday before I even saw this thread. I had the idea and did it for like 10 seconds. I couldn't do it very well and stopped, I'm interested to try it again though.

 

[teller]

I find that when I do it, I tend to "will" the piece I am tracking to follow some path I desire. I cannot always make it random...and yet I am not always certain about its rotation; trying to anticipate it is challenging at burst speed. I've only done it with a corner piece; I will do it with an edge when I resume.

Well done. I think "Turbo Tracking" is a good thing.

 

[PhillipEspinoza]

I think this practice will help particularly with the transition from Cross to F2L that everyone always has a hard time with. Give it a try. Try to keep track of a corner (an maybe an edge too) while quickly making your cross. I think this will definitely help and I think this ability might be what makes Faz so fast which is why I suggested the Zeroing name.