Can't get below 1:25

[Spandy]

Hello guys,
I have started cubing from the month of December 2014, But however hard I try, my timing is not going below 1 min 25 sec. I am currently using CFOP with 2look OLL and 2look PLL. Is there any way to improve my timing without going into full PLL or OLL. I currently am unable to use look ahead. I also know the Roux method but I average around 3 minutes on it.

 

[PixelWizard]

Hello guys,
I have started cubing from the month of December 2014, But however hard I try, my timing is not going below 1 min 25 sec. I am currently us CFOP with 2look OLL and 2look PLL. Is there any way to improve my timing without going into full PLL or OLL. I currently am unable to use look ahead. I also know the Roux method but I average around 3 minutes on it.

Practice regularly, like 20 solves each day... You're times will drop very fast, especially at your level

 

[Spandy]

I practise some 50 solves a day and am currently exploring the zz method too

 

[AlphaSheep]

For a lot of people, the key to getting faster is slowing down. Rather don't time your solves, and just try to look for different ways to do things. Concentrate on turning smoothly and accurately, and with each turn, think about where your fingers need to be for the next turn. In a week or two, you can start timing your solves again.

 

[Alphalpha]

I began around the end of October. My times had a deviation of around 20-25 seconds, and I was bumping into a 1.20/1.30 wall. I had a little fear that 'cubing just wasn't meant for my brain.' I really started timing myself at the beginning of January, though not the majority of the time. My times were butting up against a minute, then lo and behold, a sub 60, then, that same day, a sub 50. And I could see how it all could have been a sub 40. The minute feels like it goes by fast, though you can still feel your pauses, and you make obvious mistakes. I continued (and continue still) to perfect my F2L, about two weeks ago, I began getting a few sub 30's, albeit 39s and 38s--sub-30s all the same. My deviation remained broad, with times still vacillating between the 40s and 1 min generally. Yesterday, my devation appeared to begin to stabilize in the 40s. And that has been the best feeling thus far. Now I know 30s as a regular thing are near at hand.

The key for me: learning options for F2L algs and finding what suits me best. I probably have an arsenal of about 3-4 intuitive expressions for each F2L case. Practicing them (I have an F2L practice cube which I practiced on sparingly, as it is generally not recommended), I began to solidify my recognition and began to have brief moments of look-ahead.

Continue solving the cube as usual, but practice F2L!!! If you don't want to make a cube, just pull the blocks out of their slot, leaving behind the completed cross, and mix. Also, find YOUR own F2L algs. There are many options. I literally "discovered" mine just by playing around.

 

[Eduard Khil]

Lol I started casual cubing in October 2014, using LBL. Times got down from 2.5 mins to 1 min within 2 months of casual practise plus a rubiks brand cube.

Then started serious cubing, learnt roux, and acquired a speedcube in mid december. Now Ive got 12 cubes, and a 25 sec average on the 3x3

Just practise. Look-ahead (brings me down by 3 seconds or more), better fingertricks, better cube...

 

[SpeedCubeReview]

I started in May and after 3-4 months I was around 1:30. By November I was at 0:30, and now my average pushing 0:20.

It's like picking up an instrument and wondering why everything isn't perfectly in tune yet, or picking up basketball and wondering why you can't make as many baskets as the pro. It will take time. Enjoy solving and learning new things instead of getting frustrated about the times.

 

[Thatguyujustmet]

If you haven't already, USE FINGER TRICKS, haha, also rather than solving it "so many times per day," just solve it all the time..... At times like yours, practice is the key. The more you practice, the faster you'll be. (I would carry mine wherever I went, at school, in the car, and even at the store (pops in publix fly all over the place). It ended up getting me my first sub 20 solve 1 1/2 months in..... Practice is how it's done, thats what Felix has always emphasized, and it's proven itself a number of times. It really doesn't sound like you've got a problem with learning new things, so just keep at it and practice practice practice and you'll be faster in no time!

 

[Spandy]

I find ZZ method much more interesting. Will it be ok at this stage to try a switch??

 

[lerenard]

I find ZZ method much more interesting. Will it be ok at this stage to try a switch??

I thought you meant your were stuck at 1:25 on 4x4... There is no bad time to learn a new method, but keep in mind there will be a learning curve, and it may take you another month or two to get back to where you are now if you switch methods. I would suggest experimenting with it and seeing if you like it. Like others said, slow solves are the most important right now. At your time, you still don't know how to solve efficiently, so you need time to think things through, which you don't have if you're timing yourself and feel pressured.

 

[collppllzbf2lll]

for 3x3 1:25 isn't even a barrier, I'm quite certain you will be sub 1 minute within this week if you do like 25 solves a day, also if you like ZZ more just try it, people have gotten very fast with that method too, I use it for one handed solving.

 

[TDM]

I find ZZ method much more interesting. Will it be ok at this stage to try a switch??

Yes, the earlier you switch, the better. Don't do what I did and wait until sub-14 to switch.

 

[GuRoux]

Yes, the earlier you switch, the better. Don't do what I did and wait until sub-14 to switch.

are you faster at zz than cfop?

 

[TDM]

are you faster at zz than cfop?

No, CFOP is still sub-14, and ZZ and Roux are ~16. I don't practise 2H ZZ any more though; I don't think I've done it since November.

 

[lerenard]

I feel like zz is probably the hardest method for a beginner to learn because the concept of EO is so foreign. I know when I first started trying to learn it (I was averaging ~40 seconds with Petrus) it took me forever to find all the bad edges and remember where they were and then figure out how to flip them. Of course I didn't practice it very much at all so I assume someone who was motivated to stick with it would be able to overcome this in 1-3 weeks...

 

[GuRoux]

I feel like zz is probably the hardest method for a beginner to learn because the concept of EO is so foreign. I know when I first started trying to learn it (I was averaging ~40 seconds with Petrus) it took me forever to find all the bad edges and remember where they were and then figure out how to flip them. Of course I didn't practice it very much at all so I assume someone who was motivated to stick with it would be able to overcome this in 1-3 weeks...

i think zz difficulty should be on the level of roux because of lse. but i guess since there are very simplified easy to follow roux tutorials for beginners (ie. deedub's tutorial), it is much easier to learn it.

 

[samuelqwe]

When i started i just needed to constantly solve and next thing you knew, bam! I was getting faster.

 

[lerenard]

i think zz difficulty should be on the level of roux because of lse. but i guess since there are very simplified easy to follow roux tutorials for beginners (ie. deedub's tutorial), it is much easier to learn it.

I found roux ridiculously easy to learn because it's so intuitive. The only thing I had trouble with was UL/UR permutation, and as soon as I read to do M' U2 M' to get them opposite on waffo's tutorial I figured out the rest in my own. Oh, and it took me a day or two to realize why I couldn't get my edges oriented sometimes (didn't realize centers had to match U or D.)
However, it has really hard lookahead during second block (harder than any other method IMO) I actually have pretty good lookahead during LSE for my speed.

 

[GuRoux]

I found roux ridiculously easy to learn because it's so intuitive. The only thing I had trouble with was UL/UR permutation, and as soon as I read to do M' U2 M' to get them opposite on waffo's tutorial I figured out the rest in my own. Oh, and it took me a day or two to realize why I couldn't get my edges oriented sometimes (didn't realize centers had to match U or D.)
However, it has really hard lookahead during second block (harder than any other method IMO) I actually have pretty good lookahead during LSE for my speed.

it just takes some practice, i can do f2b in 5 seconds but 12-13 seconds for f2l because i never practice it. .

 

[lerenard]

it just takes some practice, i can do f2b in 5 seconds but 12-13 seconds for f2l because i never practice it. .

I believe that. Doing ~50 crosses a day I'm starting to get where I can plan out B and D moves freeing me up watch F where my other pieces are, and I can almost look ahead to my first pair, but my first block requires my full attention, so once it's done I have no idea where the other pieces I need are. I think roux second block has more cases than f2l, though, so it's harder to just recognize a case and do an intuitive algorithm you have in muscle memory.