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[Help Thread] General Cubing Guidance

Hazel

Premium Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2017
Messages
1,681
Location
in your walls :3
I haven't seen any thread like this, and I think some people like myself could use it. The purpose of it is for people who need general guidance on what direction they should head in terms of cubing. For example, a question I have:

I noticed that most world-class cubers specialize in one or a few events. Like Kevin Hays specializes in big cubes, Anthony Brooks and Kian Mansour specialize in 3x3 and 3x3 OH, Maskow specializes in MBLD (or at least he used to).
Since I've started cubing over four and a half years ago my main event has been 3x3, and I've gotten down to a sub-13 global average. The problem is I'm a bit tired of how slow my improvement rate is, and I'm just not enjoying 3x3 as much as I used to. I was wondering if I should start specializing in something else? I've been liking Square-1 recently, but algorithms are really important for that event and 3x3 has burned me out with algs. 4x4 is also lots of fun, but not something I would want to go full-force at. Bigger cubes aren't my thing, and neither are the other small events like Skewb and Pyraminx. I like 2x2, but not enough to learn full EG etc. I can do 3BLD, but I'm slow at it and I don't find it to be super enjoyable. What are your guys' thoughts?

If a mod feels like this belongs in another thread, feel free to move it.
 
Joined
Jan 31, 2015
Messages
21
Location
Washington, USA
WCA
2015STEV01
I don't know how up to date your pbs are, or how much time you have put into big cubes, but I really didn't enjoy them at first. When you put more time into it, it can really be satisfying. Also for sq1 you can learn some parity control and other stuff to minimize the algs you need to learn, it doesn't take much effort to learn eo and cp, and you could get fast with only learning some ep's that take the longest to solve with the beginner's method.
 

Oatch

Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2015
Messages
240
Location
Australia
I think it might be worth taking a step back and thinking about why you picked up cubing in the first place. For most of us, it's because it's something enjoyable to do in our spare time. You've mentioned feeling burned out and not really enjoying cubing as much as you have before, so maybe a logical thing to do is just take a break for a bit from cubing altogether and coming back when you feel like picking it up again. A hobby should never feel like a chore, else that honestly defeats the purpose of it. Although slow progress can be frustrating, you just have to keep in mind that in the end, you should be having fun while cubing!

I wouldn't be worried about finding an event to 'specialise' in just to be 'good' at that event, it's just down to what you enjoy. Again, you shouldn't feel like there's an obligation to do compulsory practice for any event on some regular basis to keep improving your skills, you should only do it for the sole reason that it is enjoyable. So if there's absolutely no event at the moment that you enjoy, then I reckon definitely take a break. It doesn't have to be long, just enough for you to regain your full interest. I took almost a year-long break from cubing a few years back because I also felt a bit disappointed at slow progress, but after returning, the key for me is not really being too fussed about improvement and just cubing for the sake of it, and I'm probably having way more fun with it than I have than before!

Also, on a more personal note, I've been doing a lot of 3BLD lately. Not necessarily because its an event I want to 'specialise' in, but it's what I find the most engaging at the moment (I think 3-style is really cool).
 

dboeren

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2007
Messages
186
Location
Marietta, GA
Just do what you enjoy doing and don't worry about whether you're the fastest or not.

If you're only attracted to 3x3, maybe work on some other aspect of 3x3. Do one-handed, or learn a different method to keep it fresh.
 
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