Older cubers discussions

[Selkie]

I put some Maru lube on the cube and 21 solves later I got some PBs, it's magic!

Ao5: 18.194 (it was 18.313 from 2 days ago)
Ao12: 18.733 (it was 19.858 from 5-jul)

Love Maru lube but tend to keep it for comp for a little bit of "Go Faster"

 

[muchacho]

Yeah, it lasts so little that I use it only a couple times a month, to try to get PBs.

 

[JohnnyReggae]

Try to spot some cross edges as you are completing your F2C. It also helps to turn more slowly during the F3E so that you can search for and keep track of the cross pieces. Speed up again for the L4C.

My look ahead on 3x3 has been improving of late so I will definitely try make use of that skill for the F3E step .

This always was and still is the slow part of my solve. Ive used Yau for about 4 years. It is also a step that I found hard to look away from the pair of dedges I was solving and so lookahead was near non existent. As @Logiqx Michael said, try and get some lookahead from prior step but also try the trainign tat a lot of people do for F2L. Find a matching pair of dedges and then solve them with your eyes closed, rince and repeat. Tht will hopefully train your brain to be looking for the next ones

Another great idea. My other problem with the F3E's is that I always use the same moves to pair edges and I know they are not efficient. I've watched videos of guys doing Yau and Hoya and I'm always lost when trying to see WTH they are doing. But I like the idea of closing my eyes to pair edges, I know that definitely helps with look ahead.

Or, switch to Hoya. I could never get the hang of Yau cross edges and found Hoya much easier to improve with. In my opinion, Yau really depends on having good lookahead and vision/awareness around the cube. The fundamental difference is that with Hoya you only need to look for and insert one piece at a time, whereas with Yau you need to find two matching pieces. So Hoya is easier for lookahead and has a smaller number of simpler insertion cases.

To be honest I've briefly looked at Hoya but not enough to put it into practise. Perhaps it is something that I should invest some time into, however I feel quite comfortable with the Yau process. Hoya seems more complicated from a process point of view even though it is the same steps as Yau, just in a different order. But at least I have options

 

[h2f]

I put some Maru lube on the cube and 21 solves later I got some PBs, it's magic!

Ao5: 18.194 (it was 18.313 from 2 days ago)
Ao12: 18.733 (it was 19.858 from 5-jul)

Spoiler: Ao5/Ao12

23493 22-jul-2016 11:00:25 00:19.880 B2 D R2 U R2 F2 R2 U' F2 D' B D' L' D2 U2 L2 U' L B' L2 D'
23492 22-jul-2016 10:59:35 00:15.743 U' B2 L2 U' L2 U' B2 L2 F2 U R F2 R2 D' B D F' D U2 R
23491 22-jul-2016 10:58:49 00:20.559 F2 R2 B2 D' B2 D2 L2 D2 L2 B2 D2 L U' B L D2 F' U2 L B L2 D2
23490 22-jul-2016 10:58:05 00:16.313 L2 D B2 U' R2 B2 U2 L2 U B2 D L' D' B U R' L2 U2 L' D' B U'
23489 22-jul-2016 10:57:21 00:19.054 U L2 U B2 R2 D2 B2 R2 D' B2 U' R B D R B D2 L D F R U
23488 22-jul-2016 10:56:34 00:19.216 U2 F2 L2 U2 B2 U' B2 U2 L2 F2 U2 F' U' R2 L2 D' F' U L B2 D2 U'
23487 22-jul-2016 10:55:49 00:18.887 B2 R2 U2 F2 D R2 D R2 D U' B' R2 L2 U' R' D U F2 L F' U'
23486 22-jul-2016 10:55:13 00:16.918 D2 F2 D' F2 U R2 U L2 F2 L2 F R' L2 D2 R B' D' R2 L B
23485 22-jul-2016 10:54:34 00:17.903 D' L2 B2 L2 D B2 F2 D' R2 L2 B' L2 B U2 F' R' D2 R2 U B2
23484 22-jul-2016 10:53:56 00:19.397 B2 D B2 F2 L2 U2 R2 U' R2 F2 D2 F' R D' F2 D2 L' F R2 U B
23483 22-jul-2016 10:53:12 00:23.687 D' R2 U F2 U R2 D B2 D2 F2 D2 R' F' R B D U' B' L B' F'
23482 22-jul-2016 10:52:34 00:19.208 R2 D' F2 D2 F2 L2 U R2 U2 F2 L' B R' L F' L2 B2 F2 U2 L2

Awsome!

 

[mark49152]

Hoya seems more complicated from a process point of view even though it is the same steps as Yau, just in a different order.

Not really, I would say it's pretty much the same complexity of concepts/process, just easier to execute.

On another topic, how's this for a feat of memory. I tried a 5BLD in my lunch break today. Seemed to be going great until I got half way through execution and realised I'd overlooked to memo the midges. So I stopped, looked at the cube, and realised that even though I'd memoed the +-centres I'd forgotten to execute them. With memory like this, maybe I should give up!

 

[Chree]

I'm going to Oregon 2016 competition August 27th and 28th! (Not Nationals which is also in Portland) My niece lives up there and I was able to get a cheap flight, so it worked out. I'm really excited, I've been needing a competition to get pumped about! I signed up for 2x2 - 5x5, OH, Skewb, and Pyraminx. Haha, I can barely do any of the last three, and honestly I don't care much. I'm still concerned about improving in 3x3 primarily.

I'll see you there

@JohnnyReggae... imho, Hoya is less complicated, has fewer steps, can take better advantage of easier cases, and has less variance.

Yau Steps: F2C > 3 Cross Edges > L4C > Last Cross Edge > L8E > 3x3 Stage = 6 steps
Hoya Steps: F4C > Hoya Cross > L2C > L8E > 3x3 Stage = 5 steps

 

[Jason Green]

I'll see you there

Awesome!

 

[newtonbase]

On another topic, how's this for a feat of memory. I tried a 5BLD in my lunch break today. Seemed to be going great until I got half way through execution and realised I'd overlooked to memo the midges. So I stopped, looked at the cube, and realised that even though I'd memoed the +-centres I'd forgotten to execute them. With memory like this, maybe I should give up!

Let's hope you do better on the lunch break next Saturday.

 

[teacher77]

Hello people,

I'm new around here and since I'm 39, this "older cubers" discussion seemed like a nice place to say hi

I started cubing in May (learned the beginners method in the night of april 30th), then ordered a few cubes (I am now using a weilong GTS), and I have been steadily improving since then.

My "average of 10+" is now down to 42.68 s with a PB (single) of 32.06 s. Are there people around here at the same stage, who feel like comparing and exchanging tricks ?

I figured like posting this progress pic. The anotations are in French but are translated in the text bellow. Anyway the dots are self explanatory :



At first, I did the LL by orienting the edges, permuting the edges, permuting the corners and then orienting the corners. As the graph shows, my times went down when I started to introduce "regular" 4LLL gradually. Then my PB went slightly down when I switched to weilong GTS (I used a GuoGuan before) and obviously my times went further down when I started F2L. I also wrote down around which date I started feeling quite confortable with all the algs of 4LLL, although I must confess that I still avoid the E-perm by using two A-perms (Anyone knows of a good E-perm alg ?).

Apart from that, what would you do next to improve ?

 

[Jason Green]

Welcome @teacher77! This is definitely the place to be. I'm about 10 months ahead on getting into speed cubing. It's hard for me to keep track of everyone's average in here, partly because people always improve so fast. But yes there should be plenty to learn from this thread, and even those who are faster now will have good tips for where you are at. Plus you'll get lots of feedback if you post a video unlike the video area of the forum (from my experience). So looks like you are currently doing F2L? Do you do two look PLL and OLL?

 

[mark49152]

Welcome @teacher77 , you're in the right place

For E perm I use R' U' R' D' R U' R' D R U R' D' R U R' D R2. It helps if you get used to pushing D' moves with your left ring finger, as well as pulling D moves. Once you get the hang of it, it flows beautifully.

 

[JanW]

Welcome @teacher77! Yes, this is the place to be.

The logical next step for you would be to learn full PLL. I just finished that a few weeks ago. It might seem like a massive undertaking, but it's really not that bad. I started by learning the cases that have one side already completely solved, the J perms and F perm. They are easy to recognize during solves and have nice algs. The other option, if you want to reduce the amounts of E perms you need to do, is to start by learning the PLL cases with diagonal corner swaps. N perms are rare, but the algs are among the easiest to learn (not necessarily fastest to execute). The Y perm is really nice and easy to recognize, V perm is also easy to recognize, though the alg is still messing up my head sometimes...

That said, you probably still have a lot of room for improvement also by improving F2L and look ahead. That's an area where you never stop to improve. Slow solves where you concentrate on trying to find the next pair while solving the previous pair are very good to do. I think it's good to do it mostly intuitively, but if there is some case that always takes you a lot of moves to solve, you can look up some alg for how it could be done more efficiently. algdb.net is a good source for algs.

 

[mark49152]

Grzegorz @h2f : You made a series of videos just talking to the camera - I'm just curious, what are they about?

 

[JohnnyReggae]

I'll see you there

@JohnnyReggae... imho, Hoya is less complicated, has fewer steps, can take better advantage of easier cases, and has less variance.

Yau Steps: F2C > 3 Cross Edges > L4C > Last Cross Edge > L8E > 3x3 Stage = 6 steps
Hoya Steps: F4C > Hoya Cross > L2C > L8E > 3x3 Stage = 5 steps

Ok ... started looking more proactively at Hoya. Have done a few slow solves just trying to get my head around what I can and can't move particularly when doing the Hoya cross. Going to spend some more time later today doing more solves. Hopefully I can start speeding up at a point to really put it to the test.

 

[newtonbase]

Ok ... started looking more proactively at Hoya. Have done a few slow solves just trying to get my head around what I can and can't move particularly when doing the Hoya cross. Going to spend some more time later today doing more solves. Hopefully I can start speeding up at a point to really put it to the test.

I'm only now getting to my Yau times in Hoya after several weeks but I don't practice much. I did look to go back to Yau but realised that I really don't like it as much. Trying to find 2 cross edges at a time rather than one was the deciding factor. I'd hoped to get to cut off times by the competition next weekend but that's not going to happen.

 

[One Wheel]

Hello people,

I'm new around here and since I'm 39, this "older cubers" discussion seemed like a nice place to say hi

I started cubing in May (learned the beginners method in the night of april 30th), then ordered a few cubes (I am now using a weilong GTS), and I have been steadily improving since then.

My "average of 10+" is now down to 42.68 s with a PB (single) of 32.06 s. Are there people around here at the same stage, who feel like comparing and exchanging tricks ?

I figured like posting this progress pic. The anotations are in French but are translated in the text bellow. Anyway the dots are self explanatory :

View attachment 6498

At first, I did the LL by orienting the edges, permuting the edges, permuting the corners and then orienting the corners. As the graph shows, my times went down when I started to introduce "regular" 4LLL gradually. Then my PB went slightly down when I switched to weilong GTS (I used a GuoGuan before) and obviously my times went further down when I started F2L. I also wrote down around which date I started feeling quite confortable with all the algs of 4LLL, although I must confess that I still avoid the E-perm by using two A-perms (Anyone knows of a good E-perm alg ?).

Apart from that, what would you do next to improve ?

Welcome! At 29 I'm a little young to consider myself an old cuber, but I tend to hang out on this thread anyway. Most of the people I see posting times here are a lot faster than you and I. I'm about a year ahead of you as far as how long I've been cubing, but I only recently (the last month or so) made a jump from averaging around 42 seconds to about 34-35 seconds.

Full PLL is in my observation worth it. If I recall correctly switching from 2- look to 1-look PLL was helpful in getting me from around 48 to around 42 seconds. Other things that helped were a lot of 4x4 practice (because 4 is better than 3), and oddly enough practicing OH solving. For the E-perm watch cyotheking's video. When I first learned it I did D' moves with my right ring finger and it was terrible. If you do all D and D' moves with your left ring finger the standard alg is really a very nice alg.

 

[h2f]

Grzegorz @h2f : You made a series of videos just talking to the camera - I'm just curious, what are they about?

They are about things around speedcubing.
- Introducing myself
- blindfolded solving, memory etc.
- going back from a competiotion
- my job - philosophy and connection with speesolving (I'm a fellow of philosophy on the university)
- what exists? world and words
- Euro 2016 in Prague.

I'm too lazy to make subtitles.

 

[JanW]

For the E-perm watch cyotheking's video. When I first learned it I did D' moves with my right ring finger and it was terrible. If you do all D and D' moves with your left ring finger the standard alg is really a very nice alg.

I've tried to do this, but I've never been able to figure out how to do it so that it would become "really nice"... I now tried it again and can see the benefit of performing the first D' move with left ring finger. I'll try to get used to that. The last D' move, however, seems to be perfect to execute with right ring finger...

I'm having a bit of a ZZ crisis at the moment. Haven't felt very motivated to practice. Mostly I've been doing bld solves last week and whenever I solve eyes open, either because of messed up bld solve or I just pick up the cube to play with it, I find myself solving with CFOP and 2 look OLL. I wonder if I should take this as a sign that I should practice some CFOP and maybe learn a bit of OLL.

 

[h2f]

@JanW, maybe doing ZZ helps you with CFOP as it was in my case and Roux. I didnt stop practice Roux but my times with CFOP are much better - I got first ao5 sub17 and ao12 sub18.

 

[JanW]

@h2f I'm sure it will. I already notice I think of F2L differently after all those ZZ solves. So far I have never timed any CFOP solves with 2 look OLL and full PLL. It would be interesting to try an Ao100 and see where I stand. I'll try to do that in the next few days.