Older cubers discussions

[mark49152]

Congrats. You're making great progress on the 4x4x4... well beyond your 1:40 target.

Thanks. I concluded that 4.5x is a better matched target than 5x, relative to 3x3 times. However, the equivalent target on 5x5 would be 3 minutes and it feels like I'm miles away from that! Then 6 mins on 6x6...

 

[MarcelP]

I'm really enjoying bigger cubes and can't wait for my AoShi to arrive!

Well Feliks said he liked his ShengShou better. So although I do not solve 6X6 and I have never seen an AoShi I am going to say I prefer my SS over the AoShi. LOL

 

[MarcelP]

This weekend I did an Ao25 on 3X3 and got a disgusting 22.xx.. It is time for me to stop doing all the funny business like 5X5 and 3BLD and start practicing 3X3 again.. All the side events are fun but Rubiks cube is only thing that counts for me

 

[mark49152]

This weekend I did an Ao25 on 3X3 and got a disgusting 22.xx.. It is time for me to stop doing all the funny business like 5X5 and 3BLD and start practicing 3X3 again.. All the side events are fun but Rubiks cube is only thing that counts for me

Do you think practising other cubes helps 3x3? People say it does, but in my experience, I'm slower when I initially go back to 3x3. Any benefit takes a while to materialise.

 

[MarcelP]

Do you think practising other cubes helps 3x3? People say it does, but in my experience, I'm slower when I initially go back to 3x3. Any benefit takes a while to materialise.

It killed my speed and ruiend my lookahead I was quite comfertable sub 20 on every Ao12 I did a month ago. Now in a Ao12 I am glad to find a few sub 20 solves.. All this 5X5 has really made me slower on 3X3. I suspect it will return soon with some good practice..

 

[mark49152]

Yesterday I was mostly doing 5x5. First sub-3:30 ao12 - 3:26.38 - and came very close to a first sub-3 single - 3:03.32...!

Today I might do some 3x3 and see how bad I now am...

 

[sk8erman41]

It killed my speed and ruiend my lookahead I was quite comfertable sub 20 on every Ao12 I did a month ago. Now in a Ao12 I am glad to find a few sub 20 solves.. All this 5X5 has really made me slower on 3X3. I suspect it will return soon with some good practice..

It'll come back really quickly. I think that the problem with doing the bigger cubes is that you DON'T look ahead yet on them. I know that's the case for me (which is why I am so slow on them). I feel like my 4x4 times are decent compared to 3x3 but 5x5 is way slow. With more and more practice I am sure that you would start focusing less on what you are doing and start focusing on what comes next like on 3x3. I think that once you get that down practicing big cubes will actually help the 3x3 look ahead immensely because you are stretching the look ahead and have more to watch, thus when you go back to 3x3 it becomes a lot easier. I have seen this on Megaminx when I was practicing that awhile back. Just mix in some 3x3 along with the other events to keep it fresh but don't give up on them if you are having fun, they will all improve

 

[MarcelP]

Today I might do some 3x3 and see how bad I now am...

Ok, now don't go 'Oh well look at that, I am sub 16' on me.. LOL

Just mix in some 3x3 along with the other events to keep it fresh but don't give up on them if you are having fun, they will all improve

Yeah, I will keep doing everything a bit, but 3X3 will be main focus for a while..

 

[mark49152]

Ok, now don't go 'Oh well look at that, I am sub 16' on me.. LOL .

Well... LOL... I haven't done full 3x3 sessions for a while, but I have done some F2L sessions and I do believe my lookahead has been improved by bigger cube practice.

My average for pairs only has come down from mid-9s to high-8s, and generally feels more composed.

My theory is as follows. On big cubes, I do rely more on lookahead because I can't turn as fast. My pairs average on 4x4 is around 11 which is not that much slower than on 3x3, because although I turn slower, I pause less. Lookahead is also exercised in other steps like edges. All this does improve lookahead on 3x3.

However, after a few days on bigger cubes, I get used to turning less fast, and that does impact on 3x3 when I first go back to it. I try to start with a few TPS-spamming type things like timed PLL attacks to get back up to speed.

Finally, at our level in 3x3, I think the reason it seems a hard barrier is that we are at the point where any delay kills a solve - whether it's failed lookahead, slow recognition, lockups or fumbles, etc. We can no longer rely on just getting faster - we have to avoid things that lose us time too, even a fraction of a second. That's more difficult. On bigger cubes, that's less the case, as there's more time to recover from small delays. On bigger cubes I know I hesitate a little more to make sure I don't screw things up, and that habit harms 3x3.

 

[MarcelP]

On bigger cubes I know I hesitate a little more to make sure I don't screw things up, and that habit harms 3x3.

Yeah I know what you mean.. Btw, a little while ago on 3X3 I could get good times without really looking ahead. Just by doing every step as fast as I can with pauses in between to find out what to do next. I did get a few sub 20 Ao12's this way.. But, slowing down and looking ahead makes it easier to get good averages.. Still I think, I need some kind of more speed in turning. I have judged many young people last competition (also a 6 sec on 3X3 and a 29 solve on 4X4 and a 1.03 on 5X5 from Mats ) and I have seen that most youngsters have no lookahead at all but just rely on fast turning. I have seen them do cross on top, turn x2, search for 1ste pair and still have cross + 1 in 2 - 3 secs... It is just so depressing to see...LOL..

 

[mark49152]

I have seen that most youngsters have no lookahead at all but just rely on fast turning. I have seen them do cross on top, turn x2, search for 1ste pair and still have cross + 1 in 2 - 3 secs... It is just so depressing to see...LOL..

Man how is that even possible?! Maybe us oldies live in a time warp. Sometimes I watch a video of 3x3 solves and think "that doesn't look that fast", and it's like 14-15 seconds. If I get a solve at 15 seconds it feels like a frenzy. Do we look like we're in slowmo when the youngsters are watching us?

 

[MarcelP]

Man how is that even possible?! Maybe us oldies live in a time warp. Sometimes I watch a video of 3x3 solves and think "that doesn't look that fast", and it's like 14-15 seconds. If I get a solve at 15 seconds it feels like a frenzy. Do we look like we're in slowmo when the youngsters are watching us?

Yeah,.. LOL I got a 23 sec solve with fast turning.. I mean, smoke was comming from my fingers, and my 12 year old judge says 'Wow, nice time with such slow turning'.. LOL

 

[kcl]

Yeah,.. LOL I got a 23 sec solve with fast turning.. I mean, smoke was comming from my fingers, and my 12 year old judge says 'Wow, nice time with such slow turning'.. LOL

Honestly it kind of is. There is definitely a barrier in dexterity/tps the older you get. It's hard to describe, but I know what you mean. I felt like I was turning super fast when I was slower, and yet it was slow all along. It's a matter of perspective.

 

[mark49152]

Yeah,.. LOL I got a 23 sec solve with fast turning.. I mean, smoke was comming from my fingers, and my 12 year old judge says 'Wow, nice time with such slow turning'.. LOL

LOL... Yeah that's exactly what I mean. To you, your fingers were a blur... To him, it was all in slowmo

It might be interesting to try the "fastest fingers" comp again and see if our turning has got faster, or just our lookahead.

 

[MarcelP]

I felt like I was turning super fast when I was slower, and yet it was slow all along. It's a matter of perspective.

I remember when I was doing a fake solve (a trained solve) and had to like 20 takes to get a 25 second solve on film.. So even with knowing where all the pairs where it was hard to get high tps.. LOL now 25 secs is a failed solve

LOL... Yeah that's exactly what I mean. To you, your fingers were a blur... To him, it was all in slowmo

It might be interesting to try the "fastest fingers" comp again and see if our turning has got faster, or just our lookahead.

Yeah.. I am getting faster though. Check this post again I have never had that TPS before..

 

[Rocky0701]

LOL... Yeah that's exactly what I mean. To you, your fingers were a blur... To him, it was all in slowmo

It might be interesting to try the "fastest fingers" comp again and see if our turning has got faster, or just our lookahead.

I am glad I am not the only one who has noticed this. Solves on YouTube that are like 13-14 seconds look very slow to me, but if I get a sub 15 solve, It seems ridiculously fast.

 

[mark49152]

Yesss! First sub-2 blind cross session. Ao50 = 1.97.

 

[sneaklyfox]

I am glad I am not the only one who has noticed this. Solves on YouTube that are like 13-14 seconds look very slow to me, but if I get a sub 15 solve, It seems ridiculously fast.

Really? Why does it seem backwards to me? Sometimes when I watch a 18-19 sec solve on youtube it looks so fast like, I wish I could turn that fast... but then I do a 13-14 sec solve and wonder how on earth I could have gotten a faster time than the video I just watched. Or else I watch the video while thinking, "Is that what I look like to other people?" Maybe just a weird thing with perception. A week or so ago I was doing some relaxed turning (I can't really call it slow, I guess) and got a 10.xx solve surprisingly. It wasn't lucky either.

 

[MarcelP]

Yesss! First sub-2 blind cross session. Ao50 = 1.97.

Awesome! I will do also an Ao50 later today for reference.. Don't think I can pull that off...

A week or so ago I was doing some relaxed turning (I can't really call it slow, I guess) and got a 10.xx solve surprisingly. It wasn't lucky either.

You are the queen of releaxed turning.. remember this 17 average with super slow turning?
If only you would have done LL some faster it would have been a sub 15 average
[video=youtube_share;Lzrlf2yNXtU]http://youtu.be/Lzrlf2yNXtU[/video]

 

[mark49152]

Awesome! I will do also an Ao50 later today for reference.. Don't think I can pull that off...

Great - so that we're comparing fairly, here's my personal rules for cross training.

Take as much inspection time as you want. Then solve it eyes closed. Start and stop timer one-handed holding the cube (I use my phone). If the cross isn't properly solved, delete the time - unless it is just out by a D, D' or D2. If that is that case, count the time as long as you did some D move at the end but got it wrong - if you didn't do any D move, delete the time. Keep going until you have 50 successes .

Edit: and stick to the same cross colour so that you don't get the advantage of colour neutral easy crosses!

Of course this depends on giving every cross my best shot - sometimes it might be tempting to not try so hard on a difficult cross so that the time gets deleted, but what's the point in distorting my own progress?

The idea is to measure how fast I am solving cross when successful, not to measure my blind success rate. Strangely I am faster blind than with eyes open.

Typically I get between 1 and 3.5 seconds. More than 3.5 and I've usually lost the plot and screwed up the cross anyway. My success rate is pretty good these days - maybe one failure per 7-8 attempts.