Abram Grimsley's progression thread | APB!!! and learning BLD!!!

What is your favorite non-wca puzzle?

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Abram Grimsley said:
Does anyone have any tips or videos on how to get better on first two centers on 4x4?
And at what point do you guys think I should learn OPA?
Click to expand...
It depends on how much you care about 4x4 and how much you hate OLL parity. It's technically better to start as soon as possible so you get more practice with it. Also better isn't specific enough tbh bc you could be having different issues such as planning, efficiency, etc. With most things in cubing, doing untimed solves and trying to find better solutions usually helps whatever you are practicing.
 
OreKehStrah said:
It depends on how much you care about 4x4 and how much you hate OLL parity. It's technically better to start as soon as possible so you get more practice with it. Also better isn't specific enough tbh bc you could be having different issues such as planning, efficiency, etc. With most things in cubing, doing untimed solves and trying to find better solutions usually helps whatever you are practicing.
Click to expand...
4x4 is my main event, so I care for it more than any other event. I also hate oll parity, so I'll probably Learn it soon as you suggested.
With first two centers, I have trouble with planning. So, that is what I am looking to improve on.
 
Abram Grimsley said:
4x4 is my main event, so I care for it more than any other event. I also hate oll parity, so I'll probably Learn it soon as you suggested.
With first two centers, I have trouble with planning. So, that is what I am looking to improve on.
Click to expand...
I see. I also need to improve F2C. I think checking over efficiency of F2C will make it a lot easier to plan them.
 
Abram Grimsley said:
Does anyone have any tips or videos on how to get better on first two centers on 4x4?
And at what point do you guys think I should learn OPA?
Click to expand...
If you're asking if you should learn OPA I will assure you it's far easier than you think. I used Ari's video and learned it in two minutes just by skimming through the video. Once you know the concept it's just a matter of practice.

For centres, I would recommend planning your first centre and planning the most efficient solution and try to predict as much of the second centre as possible before donning a blindfold or shutting your eyes. Eventually you should have an understanding of how the centres move and can comfortably solve them in one look.
 
DuckubingCuber347 said:
If you're asking if you should learn OPA I will assure you it's far easier than you think. I used Ari's video and learned it in two minutes just by skimming through the video. Once you know the concept it's just a matter of practice.

For centres, I would recommend planning your first centre and planning the most efficient solution and try to predict as much of the second centre as possible before donning a blindfold or shutting your eyes. Eventually you should have an understanding of how the centres move and can comfortably solve them in one look.
Click to expand...
I didn't see the video yet, I will watch when I return home, but do you have to know 4BLD techniques to learn it?
 
Filipe Teixeira said:
I didn't see the video yet, I will watch when I return home, but do you have to know 4BLD techniques to learn it?
Click to expand...
When I learned OPA I had yet to solve a 3x3 blindfolded. It's not really the same as blind tracing. In OPA you just match all of the edges with its matching edge and if the edge you cycle to is equivalent to a ZZ "bad" edge you add a number to your tally. At the end of tracing if your number is an odd number you have an odd number of orientated edges (and vice versa) resulting in a position that can't be solved as a 3x3; i.e, OLL parity. You fix this by using an odd number of inner layer turns to solve your centres.

Stanley Chapel has a video on why this works but an easy illustration is by obervation. If you do a u slice on a solved 4x4 you can the centres by rotating and doing 2r U2 2r triggers (I don't know 4x4 notation, I think this is right) and once your centres are solved you pair the edges like normal and when you get to LL you'll have OLL parity.

A useful note is that after the third centre the last three can be solved completely normal since you be using 2 inner turns to solve the remaining of the centres.

A cheat code that's WCA illegal is pay attention to the scramble. If you count the inner turns in the scramble you don't need to trace lol.
 
Ok, I'm back and ready to cube! I have a lot planned, but most of it has to do with 4x4. My plan is to go crazy with 4x4! I'm currently learning 4x4 last layer parity algs and improving my ftc. I'm also doing more slow solves to improve look-ahead and plan on learning opa soon. I also plan on learning other 4x4 methods (to an extent) just to expand on my knowledge of 4x4 (Note: this is not me leaving yau, I have no plans of switching from yau to anything else. Don't worry! Lol). Also, I need to learn a better oll parity alg while I'm not using opa. I have alot of algs also in mind to learn just for the expansion of my 4x4 knowledge. Maybe I'll explore 4x4 cube theory if it exists.

For 3x3, I'm still learning eo-cross for zz. It's taking a while due to distractions, but I will continue learning zz soon.

As for non-wca puzzles/ events, I'm doing alot of 2x2-4x4 relays and a little 3x3x4. I'm also getting back into mirror blocks.
 
doing some 5x5. here is pb average and single:

Generated By csTimer on 2023-06-25 (solving from 2023-06-25 09:04:51 to 2023-06-25 09:40:07)
avg of 5: 2:15.39

Time List:
1. 2:07.85 Dw' U Bw2 Uw2 D U2 R2 Uw L Fw' Uw L2 D2 U' R2 Lw2 U' Bw2 Dw2 R' D Dw F' Bw2 L' Bw Fw' Lw Fw2 Rw Uw Dw' F D2 L Lw B' F' Dw Lw Rw2 Bw2 Lw2 Rw' D Uw B2 Dw2 D' F Bw2 B' Dw2 D R' Lw' Bw' Fw' R' F2 @2023-06-25 09:04:51
2. (2:05.55) R' Bw' L2 Dw' U' Lw2 Dw B Lw' R2 F' Bw' Dw2 B U' Dw' Lw' Bw2 D Uw L' Fw' R L Uw R Lw2 U' F2 L Lw2 R' Rw Dw2 Uw Fw' Rw' Lw' F' D Dw2 Rw2 Dw2 L Lw B Uw U2 Fw2 F2 Lw L2 Rw' Fw' B' Bw R2 F Bw2 R' @2023-06-25 09:23:04
3. (2:38.31) Bw' U2 Dw' D2 Rw' L2 Bw2 F' L' U2 Bw' D Dw2 U2 Bw Uw Bw2 Rw' L2 Fw R2 Bw R' F' Fw' L' F' Lw B2 L F2 L' D' L Bw Uw' Lw' B' Lw' U' Fw2 D' Rw2 D' L2 Lw D' L B2 Uw Fw2 Rw' Bw' Fw2 Rw2 Bw2 B2 R2 L2 Bw @2023-06-25 09:27:50
4. 2:22.94 D' R Uw2 Fw2 R' Bw' U Dw2 R2 B Rw2 B2 Bw' U2 F Uw' Lw2 D' F U2 Uw B2 Lw' D F Rw2 Bw' R Dw Fw Lw2 R L2 Bw2 L R' U' R Fw2 Lw D' F2 Fw2 Dw2 L' Rw' Lw B D' F U L D2 Rw2 D Rw' Bw2 B R' D' @2023-06-25 09:36:29
5. 2:15.38 Fw U' R2 Fw F Bw2 D Lw Fw Bw' Uw' D2 U2 B' Lw' U2 F L2 Fw2 F' R L' B' R F U2 Lw' Bw2 Lw' B' Uw2 F2 U2 D2 B' Uw2 F2 L' Uw L B Uw2 B' Lw B2 Dw Bw2 U2 Uw' Dw2 Lw2 L2 B F' Rw Fw2 R Fw2 Rw' F' @2023-06-25 09:40:07
 
Screenshot_20230711-134254_Chrome.jpg

Not using zz yet on weekly comps, since I don't want to use zz until I get all caught up to where I was with cfop, and this just made it harder! Lol

Scramble: U B2 L U2 L2 U2 R B2 L B' U2 B2 L' R D' F2 L F' L2

Recon: hold the cube with orange front and yellow top
Cross: B D' B R' F L R
First pair: U L' U L R' U R
Second pair: L' U2 L
Third pair: U R U2' R' L U' L'
Fourth pair: y' U2 R' U' R U R' U2 R
Oll: U R' U' F U R U' R' F' R
Pll: U2 l2 D2 R' U' R D2 R' U R' F2
 
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