Plateau

[cuber421]

Hi guys, first post here.

I have hit a major plateau in speedsolving on the 3x3. I have learned Fridrich with 4 look OLL/PLL. I average 45s. I have been at this average for about 3000(estimate)solves at least since last december.

I use a store bought rubiks brand rubiks cube. (i have used some silicon spray that a i bought at home depot that has made my cube average to slightly above average in turning ability). I do not know how to make my cube virtually frictionless as the ones i have seen and used, which are own by some great solvers i know.

something i have noticed is my right hand does much of the work. i prefer right turns over left ones.

------------
thanks

 

[FatBoyXPC]

There are plenty of threads already from people seeking help similar to this. I advise you use the Google Search (it is much better than the built in VB search) for help in the future before posting threads. You would also benefit very much from reading the rules.

How long have you been doing Fridrich? How long is your F2L? I'm guessing around 30 seconds. How long does your cross take you? Do you correctly permute the cross when solving it, or do you make a cross then permute appropriately? Are you doing intuitive Fridrich? Have you learned the optimal / easier ways to solve the tough cases? Are you to the point where you can find a pair then solve it blind? Can you predict your edge orientation? Can you predict corner orientation (after EO)? Can you predict edge permutation after corner permutation?

If you answer no to any of these questions, I advise you learn about it then get to where you can answer yes.

Everybody will tell you: Practice and look ahead. Very good advice. I'm not quite sub20 yet (getting close) but even I can say I need more practice of looking ahead (and even optimally solving F2L, I have a handful of wasteful moves still).

How To Get Faster Using the Fridrich Method might be a very beneficial thread for you to read.

 

[Jukuren]

i had the same problem. what helped my time was learning new methods... i practiced zz and roux a lot and whenever i went back to CFOP my time would drop quite a bit

 

[vgbjason]

Don't be discouraged, this happens to everybody Just keep at it and eventually you'll get better with simple practice.

Slightly off topic, is it really a plateau when your times are going down? Wouldn't you have reached a valley, or a plain?

 

[hawkmp4]

Don't be discouraged, this happens to everybody Just keep at it and eventually you'll get better with simple practice.

Slightly off topic, is it really a plateau when your times are going down? Wouldn't you have reached a valley, or a plain?

Maybe terrace is a better word.

To the OP: Try taking a break for a couple of days. Yes, taking a break can make you faster.

 

[vgbjason]

Don't be discouraged, this happens to everybody Just keep at it and eventually you'll get better with simple practice.

Slightly off topic, is it really a plateau when your times are going down? Wouldn't you have reached a valley, or a plain?

Maybe terrace is a better word.

To the OP: Try taking a break for a couple of days. Yes, taking a break can make you faster.

Yes, terrace! That's the word i was looking for.

 

[FatBoyXPC]

Actually, terrace and plateau are very similar.

terrace:
1. a raised level with a vertical or sloping front or sides faced with masonry, turf, or the like, esp. one of a series of levels rising one above another.
2. the top of such a construction, used as a platform, garden, road, etc.
3. a nearly level strip of land with a more or less abrupt descent along the margin of the sea, a lake, or a river.
4. the flat roof of a house.
5. an open, often paved area connected to a house or an apartment house and serving as an outdoor living area; deck.
6. an open platform, as projecting from the outside wall of an apartment; a large balcony.
7. a row of houses on or near the top of a slope.
8. a residential street following the top of a slope.

Often, plateau is used to describe a peak you have reached (in this case our peaks are decreases in time, but it's still a peak in performance or speed). Now to show even further:

plateau:
1. a land area having a relatively level surface considerably raised above adjoining land on at least one side, and often cut by deep canyons.
2. a period or state of little or no growth or decline: to reach a plateau in one's career.
3. Psychology . a period of little or no apparent progress in an individual's learning, marked by an inability to increase speed, reduce number of errors, etc., and indicated by a horizontal stretch in a learning curve or graph.
4. a flat stand, as for a centerpiece, sometimes extending the full length of a table.

It is quite clear now that plateau is an acceptable word

 

[cuber421]

well ive gotten to step 3 in the "get faster with f2l" guide, i do intuitive f2l and 4 look o/pll. but my average is not between 30-39 sec but rather 45sec.

what should i do now? should go ahead and memorize 3look last layer?

 

[Anonymous]

IMO, 30-39 is kind of low for 4LLL. It's easily possible, but the point is to improve efficiently. I think it would be fine for you to start memorizing PLLs- you only need 14 more, after all.

 

[FatBoyXPC]

If you SHOULD be in the 30-39 range, improve your lookahead. 4LLL is very possible to Sub20, but learning the PLLs should help you out a bit. I recommend slowly learning PLLs but focusing on look ahead. In my opinion you can never learn algs too early, the more time you get to learn their recognition the easier it will be to recognize each case when PLL execution time does matter.

 

[beingforitself]

I have been at this average for about 3000(estimate)solves at least since last december.

December -> August = 9 months =~ 270 days.

3000 solves / 270 days =~ 11 solves per day.

Assuming a solve every two minutes, this means you aren't even practicing 30 minutes a day.

When I moved from 45 to 35 average, I was practicing like 3 or 4 hours a day minimum.

I don't think I would have moved there without having learned all the PLLs though.

I do not know how to make my cube virtually frictionless as the ones i have seen and used

Since it's a storebought, your cube is probably impossible to make loose. Buy a DIY + cube lube. Any brand is fine as long as you lube it and loosen the screw tension (rubiks.com, ghosthand, type a/c, whatever).

 

[FatBoyXPC]

Since it's a storebought, your cube is probably impossible to make loose. Buy a DIY + cube lube. Any brand is fine as long as you lube it and loosen the screw tension (rubiks.com, ghosthand, type a/c, whatever).

I completely disagree. You can make storeboughts really loose, and even improve their corner cutting.

 

[hawkmp4]

Since it's a storebought, your cube is probably impossible to make loose. Buy a DIY + cube lube. Any brand is fine as long as you lube it and loosen the screw tension (rubiks.com, ghosthand, type a/c, whatever).

I completely disagree. You can make storeboughts really loose, and even improve their corner cutting.

Yes, but it's going to take a long time OR you're going to cause a lot of stress on the core. A DIY is going to be a much easier option, especially for a beginner.

 

[FatBoyXPC]

I agree to that, but he never said a DIY would be an easier option, he said it's probably impossible. If you do the drill method breaking in a storebought can be pretty quick (or use a fan instead of a drill).

 

[beingforitself]

I agree to that, but he never said a DIY would be an easier option, he said it's probably impossible. If you do the drill method breaking in a storebought can be pretty quick (or use a fan instead of a drill).

Yeah, you are right, I should have said "too much trouble than it's worth" rather than "impossible."

I mean, if you have the money, you might as well drop 15 dollars for a DIY and lube and instantly having a loose cube rather than spending hours modifying and breaking in a crappy storebought.

 

[FatBoyXPC]

Or $7.38 on lightake for an FII No putting it together, great cube outta the box, and lubed

 

[penfold1992]

i have this same problem but instead with the 30 second margin. my average just WILL not drop below 30s so i know how your feeling.
the problem is that people are faster then you and your thinking... "how the.... im using the same method and they can shave off 30s of theyre average times"
trust me i dont know why either however practising new methods and understanding how the cube works in certain ways (like try using roux or petrus) has certainly helped my times lower quickly. so i would recommend this

 

[RyanO]

If you're averaging 45 I can assure you that you haven't reached a plateau. You just need to practice more. Learning more LL algorithms will obviously help your time, but you also need to work on look ahead and smooth turning. Make a dedicated effort to correct the things that you do in a sub par way and learn better technique rather than just practicing what you already know over and over. For example, you probably need to work on getting comfortable mirroring F2L cases with your left hand rather than doing a bunch of unneeded cube rotations. Also, I would ignore the people advising you to learn a completely tangential method unless you actually plan to switch to it as your main method. Splitting your practice amongst multiple different methods will just leave you slow at all of them.

 

[Chapuunka]

When I moved from 45 to 35 average, I was practicing like 3 or 4 hours a day minimum.

Dedication: you have it. :tu

 

[maggot]

when you are solve cross, look at the timer after your cross is finished and ask yourself, can i do it faster? i say if you are doing more than 5 sec on any cross, learn to solve the cross better. badmephisto's advanced cross tutorial and practicing cross blindfolded help. for F2L, are you constantly turning your cube or do you make pauses? look at timer when you finish F2L. was the time bad because your cross? or did you make many pauses? did you do a lot of cube rotation? did you make any unecessary turn (U3, U U', U4 (lol))? did you have pairs made and you accidentally broke them because you only know how to insert one way? can you insert pair in the back of the cube?
i average 20 sec and full PLL dropped my time marginally (although it is getting better as i improve my fingertrick for some tricky alg) sub 30 is very possible for 4LLL. for PLL, do you know what combination of 2LPLL will solve the case? i.e. g-perm=Tperm followed by U perm, Vperm =J perm followed by A perm? do you do cube rotation to solve PLL? or do you AUF and then PLL then AUF?
keep these things in mind and you will see that there are many areas for you to improve, it is not necessary to memorize 10000 alg to be faster.