My avg time is same..

ahmedkl

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Well i have been cubing from more then a month and i learned the LBL method , now my average time is 1min 40sec , and i don't seem to be kind of improving . I still haven't learned finger tricks neither any other method? what should i do ?
 
Finger tricks for sure (if your cube is too stiff, get a new one)
Also 4 look last layer (2LOLL, 2LPLL)

And practice practice practice. A month is nothing, many cubers have been at this for years.
 
thanks for the replies guys , so are there any good finger trick tutorials out on youtube?
last week I was thinking about making one... then decided not too because I didn't think anybody would actually watch it.... maybe I should?

Like making a website, I reccomend if you introduce something new, not the same stuff over and over.

 
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The videos by "badmephisto" on YouTube are among the best for helping both beginners and advanced cubers. I was also about 100 seconds per solve from 1980 to 2007. Then I read the claim by Jessica Fridrich that anybody could solve the cube in 17 seconds if people took certain steps to improve. I'm down to about 40 seconds now, and am still slowly improving my speed.

You are allowed 15 seconds of inspection before you begin your solve. Use that time to plan ahead, effectively dropping several seconds from your solve time.

Try to speed up your first two layers by quickly solving the bottom edges, then connecting each corner with its adjacent 2nd layer edge and putting them both in place at the same time.
 
Finger trick tutorials are really good for basic stuff like R U R' U', but you're going to want to figure out your own style. For example, I almost exclusively use my right thumb for F', even if it can be performed with the left index finger on the top face.
Watch the basics to know what it's all about, then work out your own tricks :)
 
I kinda feel intimidated trying to give advice here with so many of these guys solving much faster than myself. I'm only averaging in the 55s range currently but was recently up around 80s like yourself.

One thing that helped me a ton that I've not really seen mentioned on these forums was to just gain confidence in your solve. I know I was, and I assume you probably are, double checking yourself a lot throughout your solve.

Like when you orient your corners in the LL. Do not spin that layer to line up with the cube and confirm you have oriented them. Another common one for me was orienting the sides clockwise or counter clockwise with one side solved. I felt compelled to line up the solved side...regrip the cube and solve. Don't do that. U turn the solved side to the back facing and solve it. When you're placing your edges in the F2L into an edge you can only see one color of the cubies...don't place them and then double check that you have it in the right place, just do it.

When you make mistakes consistently go back...do it slow and figure out what you're doing wrong. Doing these things shaved off a lot of time for me without the sometimes daunting task of new memorization.
 
im not sure i understand the previous post...
on topic- when i was using beginner, lubing my cube did a lot to help me to learn to use my fingers to solve. it also allowed me to do the things i did frequently with beginner method faster, for example, inserting corners on the first layer i would use RUR'U' or L'U'LU kind of triggers. at first i would do each turn deliberatly and slowly, as i spoke the face turn outloud "R-U-R prime" etc. but then i just memorized how many times i had to use the trigger (RUR'U' aka sexy move) to orient the corner and for it to be solved. like, if the cross color was on the right hand side, i performed one time and it was solved.. if cross color was on the top, i would perform 3 times and it would be solved.. if you take this approach, it will improve your times. also, i had a beginner method that oriented the corners in the very last step. i then learned a method that oriented the pieces first and then i permuted them. it only required 3 or 4 more algs. they were difficult to learn for me at the time, but it shaved 20 seconds off my time easily. learning CFOP method, you might find that it will shave your time dramatically to learn the intuitive F2L part, solving the corner and edge at the same time. even without fingertricks, the intuitive F2L is no algorithm and will improve your understanding of the cube greatly and improve your times once you are comfortable with it. look up on youtube. badmephisto has taught a lot of people. he is wonderful.
 
Fingertricks are pretty simple, really. All you really need to know is to flick the top layer with your fingers (I'm sure you already do that), and to find the best way for you to perform F moves. After that, it's a matter of making everything flow together so that you can execute everything quickly, and finding a better method. I personally think that people should learn an advanced method as soon as possible- there's no reason why you should get accustomed to a beginner method and make the transition harder. It might take a while, but just get a tiny bit faster (maybe a 1:30 average), and then look into Fridrich, Petrus, Roux, ZZ, and maybe Waterman (not sure about that one).
Just don't feel pressured to choose Fridrich- the other methods all have the potential to be sub-20 or sub-15. Good luck!
 
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