[Help Thread] Colour Neutral Discussion and Help

[applemobile]

I quit 3x3 for a while mainly due to black ops zombies and 3blind. My 3x3 times have gone up a few seconds to the high 18's feels bad man. Anyway, I don't care about 3x3 anymore so I am going to have a bash and trying to be colour neutral. I learnt yellow a while ago and I still feel competent with that, I started blue last night and I suck, but have had huge improvements within half an hour or so. It makes cubing fun again as I can actually see improvement again. Still, I will probably quit by tommorow.

 

[jskyler91]

Ok, I am only three days into the transition. I started after seeing jskyler91's video. It really inspired me. I like cubing a lot, and getting faster is cool but it is not my main concern. Me being 43 years old doesn't help being as fast as most people here anyway.
So I average just sub 30 on white cross (CFOP). I did a Ao50 on yellow cross and got 31 something on the first day. So I decided to skip the few days Yellow training and start right away on green. At first all I got where averages over one minute. The second day I had all avarages around 40 seconds. Today some averages are around 34 - 35 seconds. I had a few sub 30 singles allready. I start to think that switching might be easier than expected. But most of all, it is real fun. It has given me a lot of pleasure to learn something new. So jskyler91 thank you for the inspiration. I will update every now and then on my progress here.

I quit 3x3 for a while mainly due to black ops zombies and 3blind. My 3x3 times have gone up a few seconds to the high 18's feels bad man. Anyway, I don't care about 3x3 anymore so I am going to have a bash and trying to be colour neutral. I learnt yellow a while ago and I still feel competent with that, I started blue last night and I suck, but have had huge improvements within half an hour or so. It makes cubing fun again as I can actually see improvement again. Still, I will probably quit by tommorow.

Good work you two, just stick to it and you will get it down. You don't have to use my method to switch, but i think some discipline/method helps the transition.

 

[applemobile]

I'm not serious about 3x3 so not fussed. I'm just going to pick a different colour everytime I feel like it.

 

[Endgame]

I quit 3x3 for a while mainly due to black ops zombies

lol same here

 

[jskyler91]

I'm not serious about 3x3 so not fussed. I'm just going to pick a different colour everytime I feel like it.

Cool, good luck!!! Anyone with questions about how I solve CN can feel free to PM me.

This is a short write up I did for a friend on how I start most solves:
1 Check the 8 corners to see if there any pairs to work with.
2. If there are, I then check the crosses correlating with each F2L pairs three cross colors and decide which
one is easiest. (If No I find the easiest cross and look for a pair that wont be highly
effected my said cross).
3. Then I ask where on the cube is the pair located?
3. Can it be easily made into a 2x2x1?
4. Or is it easier to just preserve the pair/ set it up for inserting as I finish the last few
cross pieces?
5. Plan out all possibilities and their fingertricks.
6. Choose whichever one is the quickest.
7. Mentally repeat execution in mind until 12 seconds has been called or I have it
down.
8. Execute and lookahead for second pair.

 

[applemobile]

Just for a reference i have recorded adv of 5 on all colours. The only colour i have actually practiced so far is blue, and i haven't put much time into it with today being the first time i have actually even time any solves. I was hoping to get sub 40 in my head, and was pleasantly surprised by me results.

Spoiler

White cross

number of times: 5/5
best time: 17.39
worst time: 19.97

current avg5: 18.36 (σ = 0.79)

Blue cross

best time: 22.79
worst time: 28.26

current avg5: 24.93 (σ = 1.22)

Yellow cross

number of times: 5/5
best time: 18.58
worst time: 25.62

current avg5: 20.88 (σ = 1.46)

Green Cross

number of times: 5/5
best time: 23.94
worst time: 39.61

current avg5: 30.23 (σ = 7.27)

orange cross

number of times: 5/5
best time: 28.44
worst time: 34.69

current avg5: 32.32 (σ = 0.65)

pink cross

number of times: 5/5
best time: 23.52
worst time: 38.84

current avg5: 30.86 (σ = 3.30)

 

[MarcelP]

After 4 days of doing about 100 - 20 slow solves with cross on green I did a timed Ao50 today:

Looking at the averages, an Ao12 of 31.31 and an Ao5 of 28.15 is find awesome for only 4 days of training. I did a Ao12 on white and had terrible times.. I guess that's all part of the transition. anyway, now I am a believer and I will continue until I am fully CN.

I made a few walk trough solves on Youtube:

 

[jskyler91]

Spoiler

After 4 days of doing about 100 - 20 slow solves with cross on green I did a timed Ao50 today:

Looking at the averages, an Ao12 of 31.31 and an Ao5 of 28.15 is find awesome for only 4 days of training. I did a Ao12 on white and had terrible times.. I guess that's all part of the transition. anyway, now I am a believer and I will continue until I am fully CN.

I made a few walk trough solves on Youtube:

Ya, most people find that their original colors take a hit during the first month because you are relearning to look at the cube in a different way and thus your mind has to temporarily work in overdrive to retrain itself. Don't worry about it, you will overcome this barrier very quickly with some more practice. It is good to see so many people switching your all investing in your speedcubing futures lol!

 

[jonlin]

Good work you two, just stick to it and you will get it down. You don't have to use my method to switch, but i think some discipline/method helps the transition.

oh my god you're alive
welcome back to the forum

 

[applemobile]

Day 2....Decided to just go cold turkey and just ''be'' colour neutral. 55mm Zanchi turned up today too XD


number of times: 30/30
best time: 15.04
worst time: 36.27

current avg5: 23.88 (σ = 1.05)
best avg5: 20.21 (σ = 0.71)

current avg12: 23.36 (σ = 2.75)
best avg12: 22.81 (σ = 3.27)

session avg: 24.37 (σ = 3.77)
session mean: 24.55

 

[cmhardw]

Day 2....Decided to just go cold turkey and just ''be'' colour neutral.

This is what I did too, and for me it worked well. Think of it as you are now a color neutral cuber, but you are also slower. I know that might sound weird, but it can actually be very motivating to improve. Good luck with your switch!

 

[applemobile]

This is what I did too, and for me it worked well. Think of it as you are now a color neutral cuber, but you are also slower. I know that might sound weird, but it can actually be very motivating to improve. Good luck with your switch!

Cheers, i used to be fussed bout my times, so i couldn't stand changing because i would get slower. But now i don't care too much. I had a lul with 3x3 recently because i just wasn't improving anymore ad it got boring. Now i see me improving every day, ad it feels fun again! Also, so far its much easier than i was thinking.

 

[MarcelP]

I did not have a lot of time to practice today. I did an Ao12 CN:


Average of 12: 30.70
23.40 32.15 27.12 26.57 (41.04) 33.73 34.07 39.93 (14.39) 39.93 29.56 20.51

Only the 14.39 and the 20.51 where on white. All other fast times where on green or blue. The slow times where on orange and red. Not bad considdering I have not practiced red and orange at all..

 

[cmhardw]

Today I had the first really good color neutral average I've had in a while. I was paying very close attention to my breathing during the whole average, trying hard to breathe loudly and slowly both in and out on each breath.

This is a good average for me, even pre-color neutral.

14.98, 13.35, 15.94, 13.61, (13.21), 15.67, 13.61, 15.97, (17.43), 16.58, 14.17, 15.73 = 14.96

I'm glad to see others are working on their color neutral switching. Perhaps we can all motivate each other to improve? I'm trying to beat my pb dual color neutral average with my newfound color neutrality - that's my goal. I've been color neutral for almost exactly a year now.

 

[A Leman]

I was paying very close attention to my breathing during the whole average, trying hard to breathe loudly and slowly both in and out on each breath.

Does this help speedcubing times for you? Would you recommend that I should try this?

 

[Xishem]

Today I had the first really good color neutral average I've had in a while. I was paying very close attention to my breathing during the whole average, trying hard to breathe loudly and slowly both in and out on each breath.

This is a good average for me, even pre-color neutral.

14.98, 13.35, 15.94, 13.61, (13.21), 15.67, 13.61, 15.97, (17.43), 16.58, 14.17, 15.73 = 14.96

I'm glad to see others are working on their color neutral switching. Perhaps we can all motivate each other to improve? I'm trying to beat my pb dual color neutral average with my newfound color neutrality - that's my goal. I've been color neutral for almost exactly a year now.

Congratulations! That's awesome.

I'm semi-colour neutral with CFOP (I'm quite a bit slower than opposite colour neutral), but since my main method is now Roux, I'm now learning how to be CN with it (or as you put it, I already am, just slower) as well as implementing non-matching blocks into my solves, too.

I've been CN with roux for about half a week now, and I've seen big leaps in improvement -- although it is hard to tell what improvement is from the CN aspect and which is from NMB, immediately after switching, I was averaging around 45 seconds. Now, ~3-4 days later, I'm down around 35 seconds. It's really fun to see myself improving so quickly!

My goal is also to beat my old PB averages, which were around 17s. I've got a while to go, I think .

 

[cmhardw]

Does this help speedcubing times for you? Would you recommend that I should try this?

Absolutely, it helps me a lot when I remember to do it. One bad habit I have with my solving is that I rush when solving F2L. Paying attention to slowing my breathing down is hard, because I have to take some of my attention away from the solve and think about slowing down my breathing, which I think helps me to not rush so badly.

I also noticed tonight that I tend to hold my breath when solving, and I can't imagine that being a good thing at all. The slow breathing I think helps make sure that I get enough oxygen to think quickly.

Congratulations! That's awesome.

I'm semi-colour neutral with CFOP (I'm quite a bit slower than opposite colour neutral), but since my main method is now Roux, I'm now learning how to be CN with it (or as you put it, I already am, just slower) as well as implementing non-matching blocks into my solves, too.

I've been CN with roux for about half a week now, and I've seen big leaps in improvement -- although it is hard to tell what improvement is from the CN aspect and which is from NMB, immediately after switching, I was averaging around 45 seconds. Now, ~3-4 days later, I'm down around 35 seconds. It's really fun to see myself improving so quickly!

My goal is also to beat my old PB averages, which were around 17s. I've got a while to go, I think .

Thanks Tyler.

That's great that you have also decided to change to color neutral. I've heard some Roux solvers say that switching to color neutral (with NMB to boot !) is fairly difficult to do. I'm sure it can definitely be done with practice, but I still have respect that you're making that change. Keep up your improvement, that is exciting to hear! Good luck with your switch!

 

[A Leman]

Absolutely, it helps me a lot when I remember to do it. One bad habit I have with my solving is that I rush when solving F2L. Paying attention to slowing my breathing down is hard, because I have to take some of my attention away from the solve and think about slowing down my breathing, which I think helps me to not rush so badly.

I also noticed tonight that I tend to hold my breath when solving, and I can't imagine that being a good thing at all. The slow breathing I think helps make sure that I get enough oxygen to think quickly.

OK, I am going to focus on Breathing from now on.

 

[MarcelP]

I'm trying to beat my pb dual color neutral average with my newfound color neutrality - that's my goal. I've been color neutral for almost exactly a year now.

So are you trying to beat your PB for a year? I really hope to get same averages that I have on white crosses in a month on CN crosses.

Also @ jskyler91, in your video you say, after 5 days training one color, it should be as strong as your dominant color. That is absolutely not the case with me. For example if I do a Ao50 on green I would be glad with a 32 - 34 average now. Still these are for me great times because not long ago (matter of weeks) I was at these times with white.

 

[cmhardw]

So are you trying to beat your PB for a year? I really hope to get same averages that I have on white crosses in a month on CN crosses.

Also @ jskyler91, in your video you say, after 5 days training one color, it should be as strong as your dominant color. That is absolutely not the case with me. For example if I do a Ao50 on green I would be glad with a 32 - 34 average now. Still these are for me great times because not long ago (matter of weeks) I was at these times with white.

Hi Marcel, nice to meet you!

That's great about your progress, I hope you continue to see such fast improvement! Yes, I have been trying to beat my opposite color neutral pb (which is my true personal best average ever) with my new color neutral solving, and yes after a year I still have not done it. I don't remember my color neutral pb offhand, but I know that I am within about 0.6 - 0.7 second away.