Older cubers discussions

@logigx
Nice progress! I've been stuck at 20.5-21.5 for a long time now. How is it you're able to see previous sessions? You're saving them in a spreadsheet or your program keeps them?

I keep a spreadsheet. I knew I'd been hovering around the 20s mark for a long time but I didn't realise it lasted for 8 months!

Finally shaken that monkey off my back!
 
just looked at my session averages over the past year:

Apr 2015: 21.2
May 2015: 20.3
Jun 2015: 20.3
Jul 2015: 20.0
Aug 2015: 20.2
Sep 2015:20.0
Oct 2015: 19.6
Nov 2015: 19.7
Dec 2015: 19.9
Jan 2016: 19.3
Feb 2016: 18.6
Mar 2016: 17.8 (3 weeks worth)

Wow! Your improvement rate is increasing in the last few months. In the last year I have come from approx. 21.50 Ao100 to around 19.50 but I'm quite stuck lately.
 
Thanks Chris. These last couple of months I feel like I've improved more rapidly than I have in a long time. Progress at the bottom of this post!

Yes... I want to do some competitions this year. The ones announced so far have all clashed with other commitments so I'm waiting for more dates to be announced.

Edit... just looked at my session averages over the past year:

Apr 2015: 21.2
May 2015: 20.3
Jun 2015: 20.3
Jul 2015: 20.0
Aug 2015: 20.2
Sep 2015:20.0
Oct 2015: 19.6
Nov 2015: 19.7
Dec 2015: 19.9
Jan 2016: 19.3
Feb 2016: 18.6
Mar 2016: 17.8 (3 weeks worth)

Wow, way to get off a plateau. Really really nice. You'll catch me up soon :) I plan on making at least 4 comps this year so hopefully theer will be one where we both attend :)

I'm on day 2 of my 3 days of 3x3 focused practice and so far have done less than 25 timed solves in total. Undisturbed free time is scarce and after my son only let me have 2.5 hours sleep last night I spent my lunch break sleeping in my car.

Ouch I remember how that feels, though many years ago for me. Hope you get your sleep back quickly together with your practice :)
 
Wow! Your improvement rate is increasing in the last few months. In the last year I have come from approx. 21.50 Ao100 to around 19.50 but I'm quite stuck lately.
Last 3 months is when i started my new commute. Last 2 months my choice of trains has been to be optimise practice schedule!

I've chosen to lengthen my journey by 10 mins to gain 30 mins of practice. I get about 60 mins in the morning and the same in the evening now.

Cubing is definitely more enjoyable than staring into space or browsing facebook!

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk
 
Wow, way to get off a plateau. Really really nice. You'll catch me up soon :) I plan on making at least 4 comps this year so hopefully theer will be one where we both attend :)



Ouch I remember how that feels, though many years ago for me. Hope you get your sleep back quickly together with your practice :)
My thoughts exactly. There is hope for anyone stuck on a plateau!

It'll take me a while to catch you but we have the same goal of sub-15 global. I'm also conscious that Jason is charging towards us as well!

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk
 
I'm also conscious that Jason is charging towards us as well!

He is indeed as with others on the thread. Some great progression recently.

Well I have decided to mix practice up a bit on 3x3 today with only a 1 1/2 weeks till Exeter Open. Aim of the day in breaks from work is to see how many different cubes I can get filmed sub 15 3x3 averages on today. Here goes :)
 
Mindblowing, Grzegorz! Do you recommend to create a letter pair vs word list? I'm having lots of problems with memo because I can't find suitable words on the spot for lots of Speffz letter combinations, so memo takes a lot of time and I tend to forget it.
 
Im glad you like it.

You said you where going to focus on 3x3 and 4x4? I was expecting a sub 20 average on video :) LOL

Now I can back to 3x3. :)

Mindblowing, Grzegorz! Do you recommend to create a letter pair vs word list? I'm having lots of problems with memo because I can't find suitable words on the spot for lots of Speffz letter combinations, so memo takes a lot of time and I tend to forget it.

I have list of words but I dont use it. I've made so many memos that a lot of my words are always the same. There are few cases in Polish that its hard to create word. In these cases I always try to use the same special word which I've tried to figure out earlier. (And I still do). I think doing list of words is a very creative thing which might help.

My memos in big cubes are alwyas done with 4 words in one location and all locations for wings or x centers are around same place. I do only letter pairs for corners.
 
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Yep I'm Givin up on yau! I did an ao25 yesterday and had a 1:56.49 average. I was frustrated with this so i did another ao25 with my original method and I got 1:38.36 with a 1:11.94 single. I'm not seeing enough improvement to warrant switching yet.

I may experiment with using M slice to hunt for my cross edges instead of S slice though. I like the vision yau offers but I find I can't process info quick enough. Recog and process speed are my limiting factors in cubing.

Good job in WC last week guys!
 
I asked for advice some months ago regarding my lack of progress at 3x3 and somebody told me that, at our age (he was not a youngster either but probably a bit younger than I am) we have to assume that, if we want to be somewhat good at 3x3 we have to forget about practising anything else. ... I could maybe become barely sub-15? Close to 12-14 sec average? ...

That's kind of my excuse too. :) Now that you guys have sucked me into wanting to practice 4x4 and 5x5 I'm not spending every minute on 3x3. I did not think I would do this until I was at LEAST sub 20, but I am because they are fun! I would still love to be barely sub 15 some day. :D

Apr 2015: 21.2
May 2015: 20.3
Jun 2015: 20.3
Jul 2015: 20.0
Aug 2015: 20.2
Sep 2015:20.0
Oct 2015: 19.6
Nov 2015: 19.7
Dec 2015: 19.9
Jan 2016: 19.3
Feb 2016: 18.6
Mar 2016: 17.8 (3 weeks worth)

I'm also conscious that Jason is charging towards us as well!

I think I was charging for a while, but I'm not sure that term is representative at the moment. These times are fun to see, I am probably still around 23 secs globally. More like 21-22 if I am rested and sharp when cubing, which most of my evening practice is really not. So although another year seems like a long time to be sub 20, at the same time I will be happy if I can make it by then. :)
 

Haha awesome solve Grzegorz :cool:

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Got my new Tec.Bean EX5000 Camera today. What do you guys think for this camera angle for my future solves or should I tripod mount it?


I have spotted the time and date is wrong, still haven't finished setting it up.
 
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Haha awesome solve Grzegorz :cool:

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Got my new Tec.Bean EX5000 Camera today. What do you guys think for this camera angle for my future solves or should I tripod mount it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oPZsciYru0

I have spotted the time and date is wrong, still haven't finished setting it up.

Video quality is very nice. Regarding the camera angle it has its pros and cons. It's the same "head mount" angle I use and it clearly gives a much better view of the puzzle while solving but it is dizziness inducing at times when I move my head too much, like when trying to spot some sticker on the side, etc. The only thing I'm missing is the sound.
 
Finally starting to improve a bit on 5x5 after like 30 timed solves in the last month (basically the weekly comp and not much else). Got PB 4:11.xx, closer to what I could start considering decent times.

I'm starting to not like my CB 5x5 that much or maybe it's just my crappy turning style but I spend probably a minute of those 4-5 minutes aligning layers in order to turn it. The cube is very smooth and, when properly aligned, turns quite fine but the outer layers have much less friction than the inner ones so it misaligns quite easily. Do you think it would be worth it to get a Yuxin or BoChuang?

@Grzegorz: Yeah, I have also thought about trying your camera angle but I'm not particularly fond of getting myself on camera and it's a bit weird as you watch the solve from the opposite side so it's more difficult to know what's going on than with a headcam approach. Anyway, with a good camera, probably the best approach is a tripod with an "over the shoulder" angle (a bit higher than the cube with camera tilted down a bit). I'm just too lazy to get my photo/video camera and tripod out so I just stick my crappy webcam with an elastic band to my head and I'm recording in 3, 2, 1... :) It's quite light so it's not an annoyance unless I record for a long time, then I start sweating on my forehead.
 
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Thanks for the feedback guys. Yes indeed in this solve I did keep my head still but agree it can be odd when I look around. I bought quite a few accessories so perhaps I should try the chest mount tomorrow. The one thing I didn't get was a desktop tripod so need to order one of these for Exeter Open as my wife who usually films me will be shopping :D

Not sure on the length between charges Grzegorz. The camera says about an hour and half but the camera came with two batteries and I bought another additional one to make three and a charger. Also bought a couple of starter accessory kits so have more different attachments than I know what to do with. I also bought 2 x 32Gb card so should be plenty even for a full 2 day comp.
 
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