On Which Hand to Use

[Dene]

G'day, I'm new here (yay throw a party!) so a quick intro... I've been speedcubing since July, and in the past few days my one-handed has taken a huge leap (from 1:30.xx to under a minute in just a couple of weeks :O ). So I have endeavoured into foruming again for the first time in a couple of years, to see how quick I can get my cubing overall.

So here is my first question of many:

When doing one-handed in official competitions, do you have to specify a hand you will use, or can you use both (maybe switch between solves)? Or even, go as far as switching after the 15 seconds observation if you think using one or the other hand would be better for the cross/ F2L or whatever?

 

[cdzoan]

When doing one-handed in official competitions, do you have to specify a hand you will use, or can you use both (maybe switch between solves)? Or even, go as far as switching after the 15 seconds observation if you think using one or the other hand would be better for the cross/ F2L or whatever?

you have to solve w/ the hand you inspect with. you don't have to specify before though so you could switch after each solve (but I don't know why you'd want to)

 

[Dene]

Well you see, if you think of it this way (I will present this in argument form as I think it is the clearest method):
P1: Using one hand at all times will weaken the hand (despite efforts to strengthen it).
P2: Alternating between hands would reduce weakening.
P3: If each hand was as effective, then alternating between hands would be more logical than sticking to one.
C: Alternating between hands is (in theory) better than sticking to one.

To be more general: if both hands are just as good, then it makes sense to alternate to keep your hands as fresh as possible.

Sorry about the structure, I find it easier (blame my logic lecturers ).

What do you think?

 

[Lofty]

You can pretty easily build enough endurance that 5 solves for an average in competition will not weaken your hand any.

 

[masterofthebass]

If you are able to perform at the same level on both hands, then you're right, there's no reason to not switch hands. Most people though, find that one hand is significantly better than the other. For me, I use my left hand. I average in the the low 30s (was 1:20 in June), and for my right hand I'm around 1:00. The left hand just felt way more natural for me. Again, go with both hands if you're lucky enough to be completely ambidextrous for OH cubing.

 

[Dene]

Sweet as thanks for that, I'm picky, even 0.1s would be enough motivation for me to get both hands equally fast (and should be for everyone!) just for that little bit extra advantage. The important thing is, now I know that I can .

 

[Pedro]

yeah, if you are equally good with both hands, that gives you that option to switch between solves...

I'm not like that I average like 25 (or better, when in a good day) with my left...but my right is like...40 or more...

you should do well on solving 2 cubes, one in each hand

 

[Dene]

Now that, is a brilliant idea, although would take a lot of effort to watch both at the same time (at least for me, I'm not that good yet!).
Yea, just tried it, not easy at all!

 

[Pedro]

well, just do a bit on one cube, a bit on the other, back to the first, and so on

check out my video here -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOjlVwYkylc

 

[Dene]

Ah yes, that is what I ended up doing, although I did try to do both at the same time, which would be what slowed me down, then of course, I can't do it in 25ish seconds yet either .
Yea I just did it one step at a time, with a little bit of overlapping, got 2:43, got to skip a PLL on one. Probably would have been faster if I did one whole cube at a time, but that wouldn't be much fun now would it?

 

[AvGalen]

Start with a mirror scramble. That means both hands should do the same, only mirrored to solve it. Somehow your brain can be easily trained to perform those kind of moves at the same time.

Performing 2 different algorithms at the same time with different hands IS possible, but really hard. Try writing sentence A with your left hand and sentence B with your right hand at the same time: Possible, but hard.

 

[Dene]

Ah yes, a little off topic, but that is something I want to learn how to do as well (I spent a bit of time this year using my left hand instead of my usual right hand for writing).

Ah yes that was very cool. The F2L didn't go too well because I forgot to get the colour scheme the same, and I was rotating the cube in different ways, but the LL was very fun, mirroring the moves like that. Thanks for the advice!