Advice for a n00b

[Quatsch]

Hi all

This is my first post on here. Cubing has recently (in the past 3 months) become my newest obsession. I'll spare you the details, but here is where I stand now. I have learned the Petrus method (found the java cubes on his site really easy to follow) and average about 80 seconds. My fastest time was 55 sec.

I'm amazed by all of you who get sub 30 regularly and would love to get that fast. It seems most of you do Fridrich and I was wondering whether you think I would benefit more by learning all the Fridrich algs or trying to really speed up my Petrus.

My finger tricks aren't really super developed yet and the slowest part of my solve is definitely at the beginning when I have to search for cubies.

Thanks for your input!

-Q

 

[joey]

Kepp going with Petrus!

To develop finger strenght/speed do some warmups like R U R' U' OR R U' R' U. Just does those a bit and try get fast with them!

Within the rules of speedcubing you have 15s to look at the cube before you start, you should be able to plan the first step in that time. Thatll speed you up.

 

[pjk]

Hello and welcome! I agree w/ Joey, and do what he said. Work on finger tricks, work on looking ahead, work on minimizing the move count, and slowly get quicker. Go over example solves of Petrus and see what he is doing, how he is doing it, and why he is doing what he is doing. Good luck.

 

[Erik]

yeah, make sure your cube is nice and try to find the best cases in your solution so it'll take less moves and thus less time. This is quite important with Petrus I think.
Btw, don't switch from Petrus to something else it's a very good method although not that many people use it.

 

[Quatsch]

Ok, thanks for the advice. I think looking at some of Petrus' solves is a good idea. Thanks for the finger warmups, too...the U' is the toughest for me. I've really gotta get my left fingers into shape.

I'm glad you guys think I should stick w/ Petrus, too....I really didn't wanna learn all the OLL's and PLL's in the Fridrich!

-Q

 

[Erik]

check out Johannes Laire's movies: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=rubiksnake
he is one of the fastest petrus solvers.

 

[cuboholic]

Originally posted by joey@Jun 9 2007, 06:39 AM
...do some warmups like R U R' U' OR R U' R' U. Just does those a bit and try get fast with them!...

Don't forget L' U' L U OR L' U L U' That'll work out your left hand...

 

[AvGalen]

I can do L' U' L U pretty fast, but L' U L U' keeps giving me pops on the UF-edge.

I can do R U R' U' pretty fast, but U R U' R' is about twice as slow.

Any tips?

 

[Rama]

@Quatsch:

If you'll go to a speedcubing competition you will see how the bit more experienced guys turn and that is so much better then those internet movies wich shows fingertricks... that is my opinion then.

I just got inspired of how ''slow'' but ''smooth'' they turned in real life that after seeing it I got a bit more fluently then I would be after seeing a video...

Ow! and practise makes it

 

[Dirk BerGuRK]

This trainer works well if your step 2 needs work.

Petrus Step 2

Start with the easy cases and work your way up.

 

[tenderchkn]

AvGalen: I do RU'R'U, but I guess it's all the same. It's actually slightly faster than RUR'U' for me. I'm guessing that your problem is with the U' turn, so my advise would be to get the timing down - at what point of your wrist movement (to do R) that you should start pulling with the left index. The remaining R'U is just a easy and natural trigger (at least for me).