Start of a new addiction?

[DaBear]

yea, i still suck at f2l but learning keyhole helped me a whole lot with getting to intuitive f2l

 

[Kirjava]

If you think cubing is addictive, you should try cocaine.

 

[Muesli]

If you think cubing is addictive, you should try cocaine.

Or mini rolls.

 

[dunpeal2064]

If you think cubing is addictive, you should try cocaine.

lmao. And if you think its expensive...

 

[DaBear]

If you think cubing is addictive, you should try cocaine.

or if you want something really bad for yourself go with WoW

 

[iasimp1997]

Welcome, again. Here, while you are still begginning your adventure in cubing, look up something called color-neutrality. It means you can start the cross with any color. It doesn't really improve your times too much, but it can give you an edge in some situations. If you don't learn it early, it will be extremely more difficult to learn later. If you start now, your times may not even take much of a time dip. But of course, the choice to learn it is up to you. Happy Cubing !

Ok, I have to give you BOTH some advice on there. COLOR NEUTRALITY IS NOT NECESSARY AND IT DOESN'T IMPROVE YOUR TIMES BY THAT MUCH. I'd recommend learning F2L (after decent times with LBL) then PLL.

 

[Tim Major]

Welcome, again. Here, while you are still begginning your adventure in cubing, look up something called color-neutrality. It means you can start the cross with any color. It doesn't really improve your times too much, but it can give you an edge in some situations. If you don't learn it early, it will be extremely more difficult to learn later. If you start now, your times may not even take much of a time dip. But of course, the choice to learn it is up to you. Happy Cubing !

This ^

Welcome, and btw, you're lucky. I just watched the first, 10 or so seconds of the tutorial with the volume off, and you learnt a good beginners method. And tennis 1 hour a week? Don't you train and have matches?

 

[stinkocheeze]

Sorry for not responding sooner, I had nothing important to say.
First of all: thanks for this warm welcome! I think I will be around here for a looooong time!
Second: I think I master LBL. Today got 01:16:79 (lucky) and non lucky 1:25:something. Cross on yellow to white - FL - SL my average is about 1 minute. I'm now trying to learn F2L Friedrichs method, but it is impossible with my old Rubiks! At orange 6 out of 9 stickers already peeled of, and 7 out of 9 from the green one... Expected my new Dealextreme DIY cube today, but maybe tomorrow or something... F2L average is about 3 minutes now I think, but it's all intuitive.

When I have my new cube you get a new story!

i got inspired to try LBL.... got 59:13... The Deal extreme cube is very nice, much like a C with very very good alignment. I learned keyhole beginners before Freidrich. Try It!

 

[SamDor]

@ ZB FTW!!!
I have only one lesson (one hour) a week. And only 5 weeks a year there is competition. Can't get my LBL faster than 1 minute, maybe have to learn some fingertricks.

 

[SamDor]

Todays stats:

RA of 12: 1.40.82
RA of 5: 1.37.21

I see some progress

 

[Feryll]

Welcome, again. Here, while you are still begginning your adventure in cubing, look up something called color-neutrality. It means you can start the cross with any color.It doesn't really improve your times too much , but it can give you an edge in some situations. If you don't learn it early, it will be extremely more difficult to learn later. If you start now, your times may not even take much of a time dip. But of course, the choice to learn it is up to you. Happy Cubing !

Ok, I have to give you BOTH some advice on there. COLOR NEUTRALITY IS NOT NECESSARY AND IT DOESN'T IMPROVE YOUR TIMES BY THAT MUCH. I'd recommend learning F2L (after decent times with LBL) then PLL.

Did you even read my message, or just go into a frenzy after you saw "color neutral"? Read the boldened parts of my message, and you'll see they agree with you. I never said that you'll drop to sub-20 with color neutrality, and I said that he could make the choice himself. It's pretty much a "now or never" situation for becoming color-neutral.

 

[SamDor]

Today's stats:

RA of 12: 1.33.06 (yesterday it was 1.41 and the day before yesterday 1.47 )
RA of 5: 1.39.90 (Everytime RA of 5 is close to the others...)
Best RA of 12: 1.28.13
Best RA of 5: 1.23.46
17/17 Session average: 1.31.01

I'm quite happy about it, hope to be on 1.25 RA of 12 on Friday.
My best was 1.05.14

 

[chris410]

Today's stats:

RA of 12: 1.33.06 (yesterday it was 1.41 and the day before yesterday 1.47 )
RA of 5: 1.39.90 (Everytime RA of 5 is close to the others...)
Best RA of 12: 1.28.13
Best RA of 5: 1.23.46
17/17 Session average: 1.31.01

I'm quite happy about it, hope to be on 1.25 RA of 12 on Friday.
My best was 1.05.14

Congrats! If you follow the advice here, you will find yourself below 1 minute quickly. I never thought breaking a minute would be possible for me however, the advice given by several members here helped me drop my times quickly. If there is one key item that has helped, it's constantly thinking about ways to improve. Do not simply practice the same techniques over and over, pay close attention to your solves and note what is holding you back. What is good about cubing is the complexity, there is always a way to improve.

 

[DaBear]

Today's stats:

RA of 12: 1.33.06 (yesterday it was 1.41 and the day before yesterday 1.47 )
RA of 5: 1.39.90 (Everytime RA of 5 is close to the others...)
Best RA of 12: 1.28.13
Best RA of 5: 1.23.46
17/17 Session average: 1.31.01

I'm quite happy about it, hope to be on 1.25 RA of 12 on Friday.
My best was 1.05.14

Congrats! If you follow the advice here, you will find yourself below 1 minute quickly. I never thought breaking a minute would be possible for me however, the advice given by several members here helped me drop my times quickly. If there is one key item that has helped, it's constantly thinking about ways to improve. Do not simply practice the same techniques over and over, pay close attention to your solves and note what is holding you back. What is good about cubing is the complexity, there is always a way to improve.

yea, learning new methods and all will certainly help, but becoming more fluid in your solves will help 10x more

 

[SamDor]

RA of 5: 1.41.79

That's the only stat I have for today. I was getting mad after 2 pop's in 8 solves lol, the cube is now on my desk in pieces, maybe get it together tomorrow

 

[chris410]

Today's stats:

RA of 12: 1.33.06 (yesterday it was 1.41 and the day before yesterday 1.47 )
RA of 5: 1.39.90 (Everytime RA of 5 is close to the others...)
Best RA of 12: 1.28.13
Best RA of 5: 1.23.46
17/17 Session average: 1.31.01

I'm quite happy about it, hope to be on 1.25 RA of 12 on Friday.
My best was 1.05.14

Congrats! If you follow the advice here, you will find yourself below 1 minute quickly. I never thought breaking a minute would be possible for me however, the advice given by several members here helped me drop my times quickly. If there is one key item that has helped, it's constantly thinking about ways to improve. Do not simply practice the same techniques over and over, pay close attention to your solves and note what is holding you back. What is good about cubing is the complexity, there is always a way to improve.

yea, learning new methods and all will certainly help, but becoming more fluid in your solves will help 10x more

I agree with becoming fluid in movement, I did not mention learning new methods however, slowing down and focusing on more efficient moves and working on look-ahead are helpful. (of course as other said...once proper understanding of how the moves are executed is required). When I was trying to break the 1 minute barrier, I slowed down and worked on look-ahead in addition to reducing redundant or unnecessary moves during cross/F2L (again by slowing down during F2L), that is what helped me improve. After that, I think look-ahead is important along with learning algorithms that work for his particular style. The rest is a matter of "fine tuning" basically, studying solves to find out where time is being lost, a video camera comes in helpful. I have seen the fast cubers solve and the one common element is efficient movement and no pauses during the solve which I believe comes with plenty of practice and refinement.

Again...I am in a similar situation as far as times, I am only slightly faster at this point so, I am providing input that was given to me which helped. I hope this helps and don't try to rush your times, you will end up frustrated, have fun!

 

[SamDor]

Thanks Chris!
I'm not trying to rush my times that much, but I was so frustrated after those pops and a bit the bad times of course. But I'm rushing when I get to the last alg! And that costs me a lot of time because my hands starts to shake and that kind of things. I'm also going to try to improve my cross, because I'm still doing white cross on yellow and than 4x L2 (or R2). Some who has the best vid to learn instant white cross?

Thanks!

 

[chris410]

Watch Badmephisto's video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTydBg21aaw

Practice solving the cross in relative position then placing the cross into the correct position as you transition to F2L (I am currently working on this) I developed a bad habit of placing cross edges correctly from the start, by solving in relative position you enable yourself to build the cross during inspection and reduce the number of moves. Again, this takes a lot practice!

Slow down during F2L, you will waste more time by rushing than slowing down and identifying the next pieces. If you solve a pair quickly then stop, look for a pair, you will add a lot of time to your solves. I did the same thing when I first started, I was concerned about turning speed and quickly learned that improving is more based on reducing the amount of pauses and making efficient moves than fast turning. Once your basics are down and you improve, the turning speed will improve as well. Of course, I am still in the process of trying to eliminate the pauses during my solves.

OLL/PLL be sure to look over the wiki and review some of the algorithms, for instance, the H and Z perms slowed me down with the M slice moves so I learned alternate algorithms which helped me improve those cases. (I use the R and U moves now) You may find algorithms that work better for your style of turning. Lastly, do not rotate the cube when performing OLL, use U moves to position the top pieces, this saves a little time as well. (again...I am a beginner so the more experienced can chime in with better advice)

 

[SamDor]

27 February
RA of 12: 1.33.24
RA of 5: 1.36.77

28 February
RA of 12: 1.32.35
RA of 5: 1.32.78

1 March
RA of 12: 1.29.44
RA of 5: 1.33.99

These are all first try, so not best RA. Happy about today's RA of 12, first sub 1.30 lol. I practise a lot but I don't see that much progress. I will start to use Bad's vid in a week .

Anyone knows if it is a good idea to learn some OLL or PLL's now, since I've just started with F2L?

Btw my best F2L time: 1:05:05 (Pll skip)

 

[SamDor]

Today:

RA of 12: 1.18.39
RA of 5: 1.14.54
Best RA of 5: 1.12.54

Best day
3 1.20+
2 1.30+
So I'm quite happy about that, really see progress.