Practice needed to improve

[Cubetastic]

I know that most of the time when people ask questions like "How do i get faster" or "How can i do f2l faster" or anything, the answer is usually practice

The question is, how much practice is enough to sustain the skills needed, the dexterity needed, the brain stimulation and identification of colors needed.

I practice atleast 1 and 1/2 hours a day often more, with a metronome for f2l and just doing f2l pairs with my eyes closed, and also using my 4x4.

Is there an amount of practice per day needed to see improvements or to even just stay where you are with your times.

If there is, is the more practice you get in the better for your times? If you did multiple hours a day would you get what you would normally do for a normal week of practice done faster?

Just wondering and thought it would be interesting to hear peoples ideas, opinions and experiences

 

[Jorghi]

Well getting decent at PLL and OLL just takes a bunch of repetitive trials.
F2L you can look at the cases on the wiki and see how they work and repeat them but it takes longer to get good at than OLL/PLL because of empty slotting and other intuition requiring things.
Cross, X-Cross, 2x2x2 Block(Optimal-Intuitive) you have to practice, there are hundreds of thousands of cases.

 

[EnterPseudonym]

I've found out that it's easier for me to look ahead during a step (cross, F2L, OLL) if I don't train myself to watch the algorithm.

 

[5BLD]

I just lie on the sofa with the TV on and keep solving.
And then I take an average some time later.
I have never drilled algs...

 

[David1994]

I just lie on the sofa with the TV on and keep solving.
And then I take an average some time later.
I have never drilled algs...

Ye i find myslef doing that too..So relaxing!

 

[Jorghi]

I just lie on the sofa with the TV on and keep solving.
And then I take an average some time later.
I have never drilled algs...

Ya but its easy to Drill algs and watch TV at the same time.

 

[qqwref]

I find that I don't need any practice to maintain my skills on a given event (except OH). After a break from an event, I just need to warm up a bit with it, and then I can pretty much equal my times before the break.

As for improving, though, it's not really about amount of practice as much as quality of practice. If you're solving for an hour and a half a day and not getting any better, you're probably not doing it as well as you could be. One thing that helps is to push yourself - don't just do a solve, but consciously try to do it better than you usually do. For instance, if you're working on lookahead, don't just casually solve at a speed you know you can handle, but go a little faster and try to make your brain deal with the increased speed.

I remember one day where I got about 10-15 seconds better on the 7x7x7 just by switching from "gonna do a fast solve" to "GOGOGO" - that is, deciding to turn fast without worrying about whether I could keep up. I didn't know I could handle the slightly increased speed, but it turned out that after being so consistent with the slower speed it was no problem.

 

[DaveyCow]

This is awesome - I wondered myself questions along the lines of CubeTastics original question. I had thought "prolly the answer is practice like a mofo". But then you saying this makes it "real" in that you gotta push yourself, like any other sport (for example). This is something I love about cubing - it's not just a "silly little toy", but a way to focus the mind/dexterity/hand-eye-coordination/etc in which you need to push yourself to better yourself at. Again, this just a noob's opinion

 

[Cubetastic]

Very interesting responses, I too believe that doing something else while repeating algorithms increases the amount of information absorbed, by the subconcious that is wich means you dont have to think as much when performing the algorithm, it is deep within your mind always there at the ready, such as a dictionnary.

Also, just like with any sport, you cant just do practice, like if your playing basketball You cant just sit there all day taking foul shots, sure, your foul shots will improve but to the game of basketball, there is much more to playing that just being able to take foul shots, such as with cubing you cant just focus on tps or fingertricks, you need to know how to follow through with those moves, transition, and combine the tps with the algorithms and the finger tricks.

Another thing is, it seems that most people here have seen theyre times at a stand still, where they do not improve, and they say that they took a break from cubing for a few days, came back and saw their times decrease, is this a sign of too much practice? too much cubing and not enough time for brain rest?

Keep the responses coming, i love to see what people think

 

[cubeslayer]

It honestly varies upon the individual. Everyone's brain is hardwired differently. Everyone has differing talents. Some are more naturally dexterous than others. However much you lack in talent, hardwork will suffice. The amount of hardwork, though, is a variable that can only be determined by you alone.