Picking a title for a self introduction is so stressful so I'm not going to do it

[Rocky0701]

Progress on my Roux technique is this... my PB is 1:22 right now but I am averaging 1:40... I just got comfortable with the L6E steps and feel better completing all of that. I think I am HORRIBLE at setting up my first two blocks and I don't know enough CMLL algorithms to make me happy. But of course, I have only been doing this for two days.

That is really good for two days, i am not into Roux myself, but for any method, that is fast.

 

[sneaklyfox]

So I started learning the Roux method this morning...

first impressions... I love it.
This feels natural to my brain.

And yes blind fold cubing looks mind blowingly cool. there is no better way to put it.
I think it will be something I will get into eventually. I mean, who doesn't want to look mind blowingly cool? Pfft... I know I do.

Sneaklyfox can you solve blindfolded? (and should I keep calling you that or do you have a knickname? can I just call you Sneak... or Fox... or SF... Just wondering.

Glad you like Roux. Sometimes I do Roux solves for fun. I was sub-30 when I stopped practicing it regularly. Yes, I can solve blindfolded. I learned Old Pochmann (easiest method to understand) and then took the trouble to learn M2/OP. It looks cool to other people but I've never "shown off" with it and actually don't find it that fun for myself so I never practice it nowadays. But I think everyone should try it at least once. I thought it was really cool the first time I ever had a success.

As for my nick, SneaklyFox is my nick haha, but for short, you can call me Sneakly. People have used "Fox" too, but I think "Sneakly" is more uniquely me. Can I just call you Pitch?

 

[Lady Pitch]

Glad you like Roux. Sometimes I do Roux solves for fun. I was sub-30 when I stopped practicing it regularly. Yes, I can solve blindfolded. I learned Old Pochmann (easiest method to understand) and then took the trouble to learn M2/OP. It looks cool to other people but I've never "shown off" with it and actually don't find it that fun for myself so I never practice it nowadays. But I think everyone should try it at least once. I thought it was really cool the first time I ever had a success.

As for my nick, SneaklyFox is my nick haha, but for short, you can call me Sneakly. People have used "Fox" too, but I think "Sneakly" is more uniquely me. Can I just call you Pitch?

Yes you can call me Pitch.
I look forward to seeing how I like blindfold solving, but I definitely won't be doing that until I can get better at what I am doing right now. I haven't been practicing as much I would like the past week so my times are pretty bad and I need to really get better thought patterns for my building my first block. I am just so stuck in certain ways of piecing things together my mind won't let them go to see another way. I just want to fall back into a routine I picked up in CFOP and it is not helping or necessary in roux. But I am working on it. I managed to shave 5 seconds off my PB and got a 1:17... but my Ao5 is still rocking around 1:40 which I am not happy about but I am not trying to be too hard on myself. heh.

 

[adamaap]

Hey, welcome to the forum I've also been cubing for just 3 weeks now, i use the same technique as you, but i started focusing on my F2L and learning to plan ahead. I'm still using a normal Rubik's cube but i ordered a Zhanchi and it should arrive next week or so. After getting my Zhanchi i'll also learn the full Fridrich.

A little tip, i have noticed that perfecting F2L saves A LOT of time. Before i started working on my F2L my record was something about 55 seconds, my record now is 37:70 single, average of 5 is 44 sec or so, with just a rubiks.

Good luck with starting out and most important, have fun

 

[sk8erman41]

You are making good progress already and its nice to hear that you are still enjoying yourself and exploring what feels comfortable. A little advice that I am sure that you will read here A LOT no matter what speed you are... Stop timing yourself and just do slow solves. I think that this is especially important at your speed so that you don't revert back to the same old pattern like you spoke about. If you find yourself doing something over and over - stop - reverse what you did - and take some time to mess around with another way to do it. Another fun exercise is to do the same scramble 5x or so and try something different in all attempts. That is why I truly love the cube, you would be surprised at how many different ways there are to solve the same scramble using the same method. I use CFOP myself so can't give too much guidance on roux specifically, but I would also refer you to the "how to practice" thread if you haven't checked it out yet. It speaks about general ways to practice certain areas of your solve. Although it does reference CFOP, many of the themes are global to any method and can be very helpful. Keep it up and enjoy the ride

 

[MarcelP]

Hi Pitch,

Welcome to the forum. I started out slower than you are right now: clickertheclick Right now I am a bit faster (with the help of many forum people of course).

 

[Lady Pitch]

You are making good progress already and its nice to hear that you are still enjoying yourself and exploring what feels comfortable. A little advice that I am sure that you will read here A LOT no matter what speed you are... Stop timing yourself and just do slow solves. I think that this is especially important at your speed so that you don't revert back to the same old pattern like you spoke about. If you find yourself doing something over and over - stop - reverse what you did - and take some time to mess around with another way to do it. Another fun exercise is to do the same scramble 5x or so and try something different in all attempts. That is why I truly love the cube, you would be surprised at how many different ways there are to solve the same scramble using the same method. I use CFOP myself so can't give too much guidance on roux specifically, but I would also refer you to the "how to practice" thread if you haven't checked it out yet. It speaks about general ways to practice certain areas of your solve. Although it does reference CFOP, many of the themes are global to any method and can be very helpful. Keep it up and enjoy the ride

It is funny that you mentioned the not timing myself because when I am practicing with my friend we still race but by myself I have stopped timing and I am practicing my block building. I am slowly teaching myself different ways to move the cube to pair my pieces together. It is helping a lot. I am just looking and moving, putting the pieces back and moving a different way and looking.

I realized right before my last post I needed to do that. So I am currently working on lowering the time it takes me to build my first 1x2x3 block. This is the block that gives me the most trouble because I have been treating the cube just like I do during FTL and I don't have to. The CMLL algorithms will be on my list later and the L6E (which I just call L-sexy) I am more fluid with it now that I switched how I do my M slices.

Sidenote: A friend of mine made pins with me this morning there is one that says "Roux the day!" and when it dries I am sporting that thing everywhere. LOL

 

[sk8erman41]

Sidenote: A friend of mine made pins with me this morning there is one that says "Roux the day!" and when it dries I am sporting that thing everywhere. LOL

That is awesome!!!! GJ

 

[Lady Pitch]

So I thought I would be-bop back around here to let everyone know how I am doing. It has been a little over seven weeks since I started this journey and about a month since I last checked in. I started hanging out a bit more with Brest from here and have kind of made him my unofficial mentor. He has introduced me to a bunch of awesome people and has given me additional encouragement and guidance that I think has been critical to my continued success. So a quick thank you to Brest.

So I have pushed my average time down to around 45seconds (it was 1:40min a month ago.) I didn't even realize I have improved that much till I typed it just now. I also got my PB down to 33.42seconds, which I was insanely proud of. I have been working hard on my block building techniques and finger tricking my M slices outside of timing. It has been tough, because my hands are older and have a mind of their own sometimes, but I have been practicing and observing myself through videos on a regular basis. Since I like to move onto learning the next thing while perfecting the last I started to learn my CMLLs beginning with Sune/Anti-Sune variants... after this I am going to practice being color neutral with Yellow/White as either of my U or D layers. There is a lot of time wasted for me trying to force the Red side with White on bottom to be my first 3x2x1 block, but I will work on that after I get my CMLL close to being comfortable.

I also switched to my weilong (Catch.) Now that I am moving a bit faster it doesn't feel like it is getting away from me anymore and that is an interesting feeling. When I picked it up to practice (as it was the only cube in the room I was in) I was almost confused as to which cube it was since it didn't feel ANYTHING like it did when I first got it. When I originally tried the weilong I dropped it... several times... the sides would over rotate and I felt like I was trying to hold onto a greased watermelon. O_O It wasn't pretty. Now, however, it feels perfect and more preferable to my other cubes. I did loosen the tension on all my cubes (Brest's suggestion) to help with my M slice and now Catch is my cube of choice as I move into my CMLLs.

 

[DeeDubb]

Welcome back! I was curious about how things were going for you. Glad to see you are improving! Keep it up!

 

[Rocky0701]

Welcome back amd good job on your recent improvement!