How do you break the sub-30 barrier? I have been at 50-40 seconds for a few months now. I just cant seem to make it happen.

-IQubic
Looking at your CFOP Breakdown in your signature, it looks like the amount of time it takes to complete F2L is very long. If you haven't already, I would recommend learning/incorporating looking ahead to your F2L (info on looking ahead is in the first post). That has helped my F2L improve tremendously and it personally helped me overcome the sub-30 barrier. I'd also look at badmephisto's YouTube videos on F2L. He has several tutorials on how to improve F2L and make it more efficient. Hope that helps!
 
Hi, and thx for the guide.

I'm new, and started with a cube about 3 months ago and came across this post, and have been hammer and tongs ever since. My initial goal to break 1 min. The problem I have with the guide are the solve times.
I would now say I can just about beat the 1 minute barrier. 3 averages in a row less than a minute, although I still go over the minute quite a lot.

I know f2l pair and full PLL, 2 look OLL. Have been doing that pretty much for a couple of months now, practice almost every night, and I've come from 1:15 down to 1:00.
So time wise that's step 2, but having the knowledge of much further steps.




A minor spelling mistake in the update:
mated Time: its only on you (at least 6 mounts)
 
Hi, and thx for the guide.

I'm new, and started with a cube about 3 months ago and came across this post, and have been hammer and tongs ever since. My initial goal to break 1 min. The problem I have with the guide are the solve times.
I would now say I can just about beat the 1 minute barrier. 3 averages in a row less than a minute, although I still go over the minute quite a lot.

I know f2l pair and full PLL, 2 look OLL. Have been doing that pretty much for a couple of months now, practice almost every night, and I've come from 1:15 down to 1:00.
So time wise that's step 2, but having the knowledge of much further steps.




A minor spelling mistake in the update:
mated Time: its only on you (at least 6 mounts)

That just means that you have the capabilities of doing those times - it will come with practice :)
 
That just means that you have the capabilities of doing those times - it will come with practice :)

No I don't think so.
For a given step it reads - your current solve time is... , Learn this stuff and practice for 4-6 weeks, and you'll achieve the goal time. Which for me at least is not the case.

I'm guessing, but don't know that the times quoted are the authors "best guesses" rather than actual stats.
 
Hi, and thx for the guide.

I'm new, and started with a cube about 3 months ago and came across this post, and have been hammer and tongs ever since. My initial goal to break 1 min. The problem I have with the guide are the solve times.
I would now say I can just about beat the 1 minute barrier. 3 averages in a row less than a minute, although I still go over the minute quite a lot.

I know f2l pair and full PLL, 2 look OLL. Have been doing that pretty much for a couple of months now, practice almost every night, and I've come from 1:15 down to 1:00.
So time wise that's step 2, but having the knowledge of much further steps.




A minor spelling mistake in the update:
mated Time: its only on you (at least 6 mounts)


that is interesting maybe you have a lot of pauses or bad cube witch one do you have ?
 
Yes, it's definitely the pauses, big long hefty pauses at some points. Like looking for a pair or trying to figure out the PLL case. Even so in my head, I'm thinking that I'm going balls-out and when I pause it's just for a second or two. I guess it maybe just my own personal very bad spacial recognition, but I have a feeling that all-in-all I am just an average newbie, learning and improving day by day and my solve times are fairly normal\average development, hence the question about their authenticity in the original guide.
If you are interested then I've uploaded a video, more for my own milestone accomplishment marker than anything else: http://youtu.be/1JFQVHbBGfA

I have a two cubes (MoYu HuanYing, and a dayan zhanchi) and silicone spray and some silicone grease. I think they do very well, but still can't quite understand just how other people's cube's move so fast and with such precision, I endure minor lock-ups but I'm guessing on the whole it's more me than the cube, I know when I pause a lot it's not the cube ;)
 
Last edited:
1. Don't EVER use the back face while solving
2. Use your right index finger for F moves and your thumb for F primes.
3. Aim to get your F2L and cross under 20 seconds.
4. Learn 2 look OLL and Pll
5. Practice F2L a lot. It took me almost a month to get used to it.

Sorry about sounding so vague :p
Good Luck!
 
Last edited:
I started cubing 2 months ago and I'm about a 55s cuber at this time, to improve you should put some plain practice in, with f2l oll and pll, I'm still learning f2l though
 
Ok, so im no beginner but im not an expert on speed cubing. I have been doing it for around 8-9 months And i am stuck! I average around 50 seconds. I have Dayan Zanchi stickerless, use the fridrich method, and im not so good with finger tricks. My right hand in very strong but my left hand is not. So i use my right thumb instead of my left index finger to turn the U face counter-clockwise. And how do you turn the front face and back face so fast? I have seen the pros but i cant see how they do it. So what am i doing wrong? I dont look ahead yet, my OLL and PLL are pretty slow. (i do it the beginner way, not in one algorithm) So what am i doing wrong?

Thanks! Hope to see a few answers! (make them very detailed please! :)

OK, some detail! ;-)

  • I'm not so good with finger tricks

    maybe you have the wrong algs? Take a look at the wiki, and try out some of the alternative algs for OLLs and PLLs. You might find one you like better, or that suits your fingers better. I only use about 1/4 of the algs that I originally learnt for PLL and OLL, since I have found ones that I find more comfortable.

  • My right hand is very strong but my left hand is not

    this isn't necessarily a problem - most cubers have a dominant hand. My right hand is also much stronger than my left; however I don't feel that it holds me back. My left hand does very little when solving (although I recently learnt double-flick D2' with left hand :-)). If you want to practice your left hand turns, or build strength, spend a while drilling left-hand U' turns. Your hand will ache at first, but the more you do, the more you'll be able to do before it hurts

  • how do you turn the front face and back face...

    I only turn the B face while scrambling, although some cubers like it. Personally, I do F and F' with right index finger most of the time, but it depends on the alg. For example, with the 'easy' J perm, I use my thumb to push F' (this). If F and B turns are uncomfortable for you, find algs on the Wiki without them in it. There are 2-gen (U and R turns only, or mainly U and R) for almost every situation you will come across.

  • what am I doing wrong

    Nothing, don't worry about it!

  • I don't look ahead yet

    Nor do I, and I average 21/22 seconds. It's my biggest failing, and something i wish I'd worked on when I was slower. It doesn't hurt at any speed to start looking ahead, but you can't do it until you're so familiar with your F2L cases that you really don't need to look at them at all. If you're not there yet, don't even think about looking ahead, there's plenty of other things to think about for now.

  • my OLL and PLL are pretty slow

    You and me both. Again, experiment with other algs in the Wiki. Look on YouTube for faster cubers sharing their execution. Brad Cottom has made a great series about OLLs, and Jskyler91 has some excellent finger tricks with slow, step-by-step tutorials. These are two of MANY many youtubers who have invaluable insights. Browse around at your leisure. Find tricks that work for you, but at the moment there's probably no need to get your last layer too fast, the biggest saving is to be made in F2L.

  • what am I doing wrong

    Again, nothing! Your personal development at cubing is not a race with anyone other than yourself good, targeted practice will yield the fastest results, but you have nobody to please or impress other than yourself. Just enjoy cubing and you will improve at your own pace.
 
I would suggest you practice U' with left index finger instead. Sure, there are some algs where you can use the right thumb, but you will be limited. The more you practice U' with left index, the stronger it will be and this is a pretty basic move that's used a lot. For example, the "sexy move" is R U R' U'. It is much slower to do all the U' with right thumb than left index even if it's not very strong.
 
1. Don't EVER use the back face while solving
2. Use your right index finger for F moves and your thumb for F primes.
3. Aim to get your F2L and cross under 20 seconds.
4. Learn 2 look OLL and Pll
5. Practice F2L a lot. It took me almost a month to get used to it.

Sorry about sounding so vague :p
Good Luck!
Actually... I use B in nearly all of my solves.
 
tank you so mutch for this post :O ! this tells me exactly when and where to start to learn
 
i average about 30-45 secs, i know 2-look OLL and full PLL
how to decrease my times ? what should be my focus ?
afa i see f2l is the hardest part :(
and what time it should take for me to solve the parts of cube (like cross, f2l, oll+pll...)
any videos or guides and stuff like that on f2l, looking ahead and etc ?
thnx in advance, much appreciated.
 
i average about 30-45 secs, i know 2-look OLL and full PLL
how to decrease my times ? what should be my focus ?
afa i see f2l is the hardest part :(
and what time it should take for me to solve the parts of cube (like cross, f2l, oll+pll...)
any videos or guides and stuff like that on f2l, looking ahead and etc ?
thnx in advance, much appreciated.

Practice practice practice f2l. Your times should be (for 30 second average) about 3.75-15-5.625-5.625
 
Back
Top