Rest

ThatGuy

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Apr 6, 2009
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WCA ID
2010GUSH01
What is the importance of rest to cubing? I'm talking less about turning so much that your wrist hurts so you take a break and more about whatever kind of rest it left. For example in sports like cross country you begin a taper in your workouts when the season begins to end and take a few days off after the season ends. And like for math (proofs or something) sometimes if you let the problem sit in your mind and think about other stuff suddenly you will have insight. I just took a 2 day break from OH to work on BLD and suddenly my times have been more consistently lower. My mind has also slowed the time down (sort of unclear but like it feels the same length when my solves were slower and my turns don't look faster or anything).
 
I suppose it would come down to this: rest is good for your brain. Your brain is helpful in cubing. Therefore, rest is helpful in cubing.
 
i'm not sure if OH is a good example. two days' break is definitely enough for my hand to be better rested and cut through some corners better or just turn faster in general.
 
I have found rest periods very helpful in committing algorithms to memory. I have found that I can memorize several algorithms in the short term, but if I want to be able to recall them much later I have to take a break and come back to them again after a rest. Maybe even multiple times. I think this is just the process of me getting the algorithms from short term memory to long term, but that is the most obvious example of using "rest" in cubing.

I have noticed a similar trend, though not as drastic, in trying to teach myself new fingertricks and developing the muscle memory for them.
 
Once I had averaged 1:30+. I took a break for about a week, and amazingly my times got lower and lower into sub-1 minute times in less than an hour. It was so weird and amazing at the same time. (This is a true story.)
 
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