Cubing Improvement During Quarantine

[Micah Morrison]

Do you ever feel like you're not improving in cubing? I certainly do, which is why I made this thread for us to discuss how much we've actually improved since the start quarantine. I'll start with how much I've improved:

3x3: Became full CN (started with dual CN), dropped my averages from 8.8 on keyboard to 8.5 on stackmat
4x4: I remember averaging 34.5 or so a while before quarantine when I took a long break, but really I averaged 36.5 at the start of quarantine. I got the Aosu WRM and used it over my less than ideal Valk 4 M and dropped my averages to 32.5
5x5: Dropped my averages from 1:12 to 1:03
6x6: Dropped my averages from 2:25 to 2:15
7x7: Dropped my averages from 3:40 to 3:15
3x3 OH: Dropped my averages from about 22 to 18
3BLD: Dropped from averaging around 10:00 to averaging around 2:00
Pyra: Dropped my averages from 10 to 7 (after about 70 solves lol)
Mega: Dropped from averaging 1:15 to averaging 1:05
Squan: Actually started caring about it, dropped my averages from 40 to 15.5
MBLD: Actually did it, my first attempt was 2/3 in 31:02.50
FMC: Actually did it, my PB is 32 (it was on a normal 3x3 scramble, not sure if that counts). On an FMC scramble, my PB is 38 I believe
Clock: Actually did it, averaging around 25-30 (I'll practice more when I get my ss clock though)

 

[Nmile7300]

Yeah I've actually improved a ton in quarantine even if I don't feel like I am.
3x3 - Basically went from averaging mid 9 to low and also became CN
4x4 - Average dropped from 42 to 38-ish, although I'm still not that happy with where I'm at.
5x5 - Dropped from 1:19 to 1:08, and honestly kind of became my main event
6x6 - 2:45 to 2:18, I got the MGC which motivated me to practice
7x7 - 4:10 to 3:40, I still have a long way to go.
OH: Got better at PLLs and turning, 21 to 18
BLD - 5 minutes to sub 4 minutes
Megaminx - 1:25 to 1:15
Squan - 22 to 19
FMC - got into it, my PB is 35 and my average is sub 40.



Now for the events I didn't practice.
Pyraminx - TBH I got sick of practicing and realized I didn't really like the event. My average is still mid to high 3s.

Spoiler: A bit of backstory

Ever since fall 2018, Pyra was my best event. I averaged 8 on pyraminx when I was barely sub 20 on 3x3. In late 2019, about a month before AZCubing Winter 2019, I started grinding pyraminx, because I really wanted to get a state record average (I averaged low 4 at the time). I got the state record at the comp just barely, but after that I was not really interested in the event anymore.

Skewb - Well at least I touched it, which was my summer goal. Also found a way to turn a skewb into a simplified Pyra
2x2 - still averaging about 4 seconds.

 

[Zubin Park]

2x2: Learned full EG-1, consistently high 2's from low 3's before
3x3: Mastered Orange cross; full CN now, officially high 7's from low 9's before
4x4: Bought Valk 4 M and I'm getting sub-40 solves more often, and I'm sub-45 from sub 1 min before.
5x5: Switched to Redux from Yao and now I'm sub-1:50 from 2 min before
6x6: Solved ONCE this entire quarantine. Idk why I don't like 6x6 so much, just don't.
7x7: Not really interested in this too. Solved about 20 times, which is an improvement.
OH: Went from unable to solve to sub 1 min (yes I suck)
BLD: Went from sub-40 to more or less sub-30 for some solves. I'm technically still averaging 35 sec though
In general, I think I improved a lot; just need to get more exposure into events like Squan, Mega, Pyra, etc

 

[PetrusQuber]

Yeah well I don’t feel like I’m improving much at all currently. I think I went from a 15 second average to a 13 during quarantine, got some new cubes.

 

[Kaneki Uchiha]

I went from averaging 30 to 26 on 3x3
Learnt megaminx never timed asolve

 

[BenChristman1]

3x3: 20-21 to sub-18 after getting a new main, the Thunderclap v3 M
2x2: Low 5s to mid 4s
4x4: 1:25ish to about 1:15
5x5: 2:45 to sub-2:30
6x6: I didn't practice this much, but averaging about 6:00, hopefully I'll get the MGC 6x6 soon
Pyraminx: 10 to sub-8
Megaminx: Learned most of 4LLL (except for some CO algs), about 2:45 to sub-2:30
Skewb: Well, it's skoob, why would I practice it?
Square-1: 55 to sub-40
3x3 OH: 1:00 to sub-40
3BLD: I know all of the buffers and setup moves, I just have yet to be able to remember my whole memo...

This actually really helped give me a little motivation, because I have been feeling kind of stuck in almost every event lately.

 

[Q--]

Squan: Actually started caring about it, dropped my averages from 40 to 15.5

How did you drop your average so fast? I’ve been stuck at the 16 second barrier for months

 

[MichaelZRC]

3x3: Started using ZZ, Sub-16 (CFOP) to sub-13 (ZZ)
2x2:High 4 to low 4
4x4: High 2:00 to Low 2:00
Pyra: Sub-8 to Sub-6
Mega: Sub-3 to Sub-2
FMC: High 50s to Low 40s (thanks ZZ)
3x3 OH: Sub-1:30 to sub-35 (thanks ZZ again)
Mirror cube: Sub-2 to Sub-1
#ThanksZZ!