Older cubers discussions

[h2f]

Theres block trainer to practice block building. It's nice tool: http://cubegrass.appspot.com/block_trainer/

Edit:
U2 L' D2 B2 U2 B2 L' B2 D2 L F2 U R' F' R' B' U L' U B2 L

z y' U F' U F' U B2 - my FB in this orientation. Efficient, but not good to fingertrick.

Continutation:
r' U' r2 U2 R U R' U' R U R' M' U' r' U R// sb 16 moves - might be
U L' U R U' L U R' // antiniklas
R U R' U' M' U R U' r'// eo
U M2 U M U2 M

45 STM.

 

[MarcelP]

Easy! I'll just enter in 5, 6 and OH XD

I skipped 5X5 because of very hard cutoff. I think you think too easy of 5x5. DNF's do not become orange Would you be able to manage a 2:30 cufoff?

Edit:
U2 L' D2 B2 U2 B2 L' B2 D2 L F2 U R' F' R' B' U L' U B2 L

z y' U F' U F' U B2 - my FB in this orientation. Efficient, but not good to fingertrick.

Continutation:
r' U' r2 U2 R U R' U' R U R' M' U' r' U R// sb 16 moves - might be
U L' U R U' L U R' // antiniklas
R U R' U' M' U R U' r'// eo
U M2 U M U2 M

45 STM.

Nice!!

 

[h2f]

Thanks.

I've seen muchacho, you've put it in the roux example thread. This is a good place to talk about solutions. I'm sure your move count will lower soon.

 

[muchacho]

Theres block trainer to practice block building. It's nice tool: http://cubegrass.appspot.com/block_trainer/

Edit:
U2 L' D2 B2 U2 B2 L' B2 D2 L F2 U R' F' R' B' U L' U B2 L

z y' U F' U F' U B2 - my FB in this orientation. Efficient, but not good to fingertrick.

Continutation:
r' U' r2 U2 R U R' U' R U R' M' U' r' U R// sb 16 moves - might be
U L' U R U' L U R' // antiniklas
R U R' U' M' U R U' r'// eo
U M2 U M U2 M

45 STM.

Nice solution! both of you should keep practicing Roux!


Also this tool looks nice: http://laire.fi/jarcs/
But they are both too efficient, there is no way I could ever come up with the blocks they build, I'm not sure if I can learn much from there.

 

[h2f]

Nice solution! both of you should keep practicing Roux!


Also this tool looks nice: http://laire.fi/jarcs/
But they are both too efficient, there is no way I could ever come up with the blocks they build, I'm not sure if I can learn much from there.

Thanks. I didnt stop to practice it and do more practice after Nats. But at the moment my CFOP solves are much better. I didn't know the tool you linked. Looks good. I did about 100 solves on the tool I linked, setting it to 4 or 5 moves, and then during practice I was focused on building square 2x2x1 during preinspection. Sometimes I could plan all FB but efficency comes during practice. I'm sure you will get better very soon.

I also often start roux in FMC to see if there's easy pair/square/block etc.

 

[MarcelP]

I started to record Ao50 averages after Mark showed his progress. My progress seem to have stopped just under 20 secs.. LOL

 

[mark49152]

View attachment 5523

I started to record Ao50 averages after Mark showed his progress. My progress seem to have stopped just under 20 secs.. LOL

Yes that's what mine looks like too . If I draw an exponential trend line, the best fit is one that converges on 15 seconds, but of course it would take me infinite time to get there

My conclusion is that solving over and over as I have been for the last year or so, is no longer good enough practice. I need to change my style and solve more like Mike . So I'm going back to targeted practice. Noah's mountain analogy has some truth to it in my opinion.

Also I'm going to start cross practice again, as in competition it makes a huge difference whether a solve starts well. Poor start means more tension which means the solve falls apart.

 

[Logiqx]

I'm going to start cross practice again, as in competition it makes a huge difference whether a solve starts well. Poor start means more tension which means the solve falls apart.

Yes. The start makes a huge difference at any time. I often get 16's which feel slow and relaxed when the start is good. A good start sets up for a smooth solve where it feels like I don't stop turning.

I did a couple of big sessions today and had a couple of 13 singles (13.34 and 13.22)... my first 13's since June! The 13.22 was full-step but had a couple of pre-made F2L pairs, easy OLL and H-perm. As usual, I can't reconstruct as I see more options during the reconstruction attempt!

In other news, I've finished teaching my other half to solve the cube! If I scramble it, hand it over and walk away she now solves it without notes.

One of the guys that I taught at work also told me today that he has taught his sister in law. Apparently she'd tried before with videos on YouTube and someone had also tried teaching her in person but wasn't successful. I'm pretty chuffed that someone I've taught has gone on to teach another person to solve the cube.

 

[mark49152]

Yes. The start makes a huge difference at any time. I often get 16's which feel slow and relaxed when the start is good. A good start sets up for a smooth solve where it feels like I don't stop turning.

As an experiment, I tried an ao50 starting from cross solved, inspecting for first pair. The result... 15.21, around 3 seconds less than I'd expect for full solves. I'd actually estimate the difference as 4 seconds as I was using a crappy cube, the only one I had to hand. I've timed cross and cross+1 before (my cross is about 1.8) but this is the first time I've timed solves without cross.

This gives me optimism that by really working on cross+1, I could shave as much as 1-2 seconds off.

Congrats on the teaching successes

 

[Jason Green]

In other news, I've finished teaching my other half to solve the cube! If I scramble it, hand it over and walk away she now solves it without notes.

One of the guys that I taught at work also told me today that he has taught his sister in law. Apparently she'd tried before with videos on YouTube and someone had also tried teaching her in person but wasn't successful. I'm pretty chuffed that someone I've taught has gone on to teach another person to solve the cube.

That's cool, I love trying to get people into it! My sister is doing solves now, I'm not sure if she's 100% memorized but she did one in under 2 minutes. Several guys at work have been interested, so far only one I know is actually learning.

BTW, I had a new PB earlier, 23.66. That felt good it had been a while since I had one!

 

[MarcelP]

Also I'm going to start cross practice again, as in competition it makes a huge difference whether a solve starts well. Poor start means more tension which means the solve falls apart.

That is so true! That is why I did stick with CN solving. More easy crosses.. And.. CN practise helps lookahead. I do still cross training on regular basis.

 

[mark49152]

That is so true! That is why I did stick with CN solving. More easy crosses.. And.. CN practise helps lookahead. I do still cross training on regular basis.

Yes I remember the discussion. I just don't have the patience to switch. I also don't believe I would ever be truly CN, as different colours do have different significance for me - natural top/bottom, left/right, etc. - including for bigger cubes, and BLD orientation, etc. So I'll always favour certain orientations.

My thinking is that cross should never take more than 8 moves and with enough practice I should be able to see an optimal and/or ergonomic solution to single colour cross every time, and be able to use that execution time to look ahead into first pair. I know I'll miss some easy crosses on other colours, but provided I'm getting consistent and calm <2 second crosses with no pause going into first pair, within 15 seconds inspection, I'm OK with that.

Actually that's another thing I should practise more - strict inspection. At home I rarely time it, and although I probably take only 4-5 seconds on the vast majority of solves, under competition pressure I have found it sometimes hard to be ready within 15 seconds.

 

[mafergut]

View attachment 5523

I started to record Ao50 averages after Mark showed his progress. My progress seem to have stopped just under 20 secs.. LOL

Exactly the same here. I am stuck at right under 20 seconds. Ranging from (great and rare) high 18.xx to (bad) low 20.xx Ao50s. Also, it's been a long time since I last got a 13.xx to low 14.xx full-step solve. The most recent being a 14.39 from almost a month ago! This weekend I will follow some advice I got from you: focus on lookahead (and turn a bit more slowly during F2L) and see if that works.

 

[MarcelP]

I also don't believe I would ever be truly CN, as different colours do have different significance for me - natural top/bottom, left/right, etc. - including for bigger cubes, and BLD orientation, etc. So I'll always favour certain orientations.

Yes, but I did not say you should switch. Just practicing CN could make your normal color (White cross?) faster. All my untimed solves I do on RED/GREEN/BLUE/ORANGE. Timed solves I mostly do on white/yellow. Only when WHITE and YELLOW suck I look for next color.

I know what you mean about the strickt inspection time. My second or third competition I had all hard crosses and I could not find complete solutions on all solves in 15 secs. That's when I started to use inspection on my timer. Now on competition I put my hands down at about 8 - 10 seconds and know full cross plan.

 

[h2f]

Talking about CN - when I start pratcing and solving on yellow it allowed drop down my times down. It really helps. I'm not sub20 but I've started to have a lot of sub-20 solves, and my ao5 is 19.14 at the moment.

 

[Logiqx]

I have not practiced OH and I need to be able to do LL OH on my competition this weekend. I have forgotten all LL algs.. I might have to cancel that event.

I'm trying to get back into OH and managed to capture a 31.99 Ao5 on film today. I'm still about a second off my best but it's the fastest I have on film.

 

[mark49152]

Yes, but I did not say you should switch. Just practicing CN could make your normal color (White cross?) faster. All my untimed solves I do on RED/GREEN/BLUE/ORANGE. Timed solves I mostly do on white/yellow. Only when WHITE and YELLOW suck I look for next color.

OK, so you're saying that practising different colour crosses helps improve look ahead on white cross solves? I wonder how that works?

 

[Jason Green]

OK, so you're saying that practising different colour crosses helps improve look ahead on white cross solves? I wonder how that works?

Maybe it's like baseball players swinging with a weight on the bat in the warmup time.

 

[Logiqx]

I need to change my style and solve more like Mike

It's been a little while since I filmed myself practicing 3x3.

Here's a 17.53 Ao5 from earlier today and ending with a couple of 16's.

 

[moralsh]

I have another comp 1 and a half week away and as improving my 3x3x3 times is going to be quite hard i've decided to give 5x5x5 a go, the problem is that the cutoff for nationals is 2:30 and I've never even got close to that.

Practicing today I've droped my Ao5 like 12 seconds after 15 solves, it now stands at 2:57. What do you guys think Do I have any chance of making the cutoff?