[Unofficial] Using others' critiques to get to sub-11 average.

[DaKrazedKyubizt]

EDIT: THIS THREAD HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE SPEEDCUBING HELP SECTION!!! The link to its new location is here --> http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/s...ing-others-critiques-to-get-to-sub-11-average.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

So, I've been plateaued for a while, stopping at just over 12 seconds, and I can't seem to get much faster. I've gotten only two sub-12 averages of 12 (11.95 and 11.90), and I feel like both of those happened on lucky days or days when I was just, you know, "feeling good." I can't seem to recreate them. I've been around the 12-second range for several months (maybe about 4 or 5 months), and I feel like I should have passed it by now.

I know there's multiple cubers out there who are better than me, so I'm sure SOMEBODY will be willing and able to help me out a little. I'm just looking for some critique on what's wrong with my cubing and what kinds of things I can use to improve it (i.e. pre-practice session exercises, new finger tricks to learn, how much I should practice daily, etc.). The help would be greatly appreciated, and I'm sure others could use the suggestions as well!! Feel free to post the critiques here or in the video's comments section on YouTube.

Some quick information about my current cubing status would probably be useful for critiquing. I was originally yellow-cross only (Forgive me, Breandan Vallance), then I switched to semi-neutrality (Y/O cross), and I very recently switched to color neutrality. I've been working on it for the past few months (which could be why I haven't been improving), and I'm okay at it, but I'm still much more comfortable starting with yellow and white. I haven't really worked on cross choice yet, and I really need to, because the number of moves I'm using for the cross tends to be way more than necessary, so that's already on my to-do list.

Anyway, thanks all! I'll do my best to post two RAs of 12 every Sunday. The first will just be a regular old RA of 12. The second will be a slo-mo/calm turning RA of 12 for the purpose of finding problems in my solution. I'll post the scrambles with the videos. (I might use the Sunday Contest for the regular averages. If you recommend that I do so, just tell me!)

--------------------------------------------------

In the meantime, I've been trying something out to try and forcibly decrease my times. I've been trying to use a metronome to help me find the kinks in my cubing. I set it at a certain tempo (usually about 35-45 beats), and using slo-mo/calm turning, I'll try to solve the cube, only taking one beat per step (cross, F2L 1, F2L 2, F2L 3, F2L 4, OLL, PLL). I often choose not to go past F2L completion, just because at the end of the day, I'm hoping to get a consistent sub-8 (and subsequently, sub-7) average for my F2L.

Any thoughts on this metronome training? Anyone wanna try it and get back to me with their thoughts on it or how it could be used to improve?

--------------------------------------------------

EDIT: THIS THREAD HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE SPEEDCUBING HELP SECTION!!! The link to its new location is here --> http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/s...ing-others-critiques-to-get-to-sub-11-average.

 

[Reinier Schippers]

About the metronome training, I used to train my F2l with it but not in one step but just with every turn a beat. So I sped up the beats after a while everytime a bit and then you get a speed where you can't go faster because your look ahead isn't good enough. So if you keep practising at that speed your look ahead will improve. Also a good thing to practise is your look ahead while doing cross (transition to F2L) which was for me really important! I hope i helped you out a bit, I'm currently at 11 seconds average.

 

[MaeLSTRoM]

I would say this thread belongs in the speedcubing help section. not the Video gallery.

 

[DaKrazedKyubizt]

About the metronome training, I used to train my F2l with it but not in one step but just with every turn a beat. So I sped up the beats after a while everytime a bit and then you get a speed where you can't go faster because your look ahead isn't good enough. So if you keep practising at that speed your look ahead will improve. Also a good thing to practise is your look ahead while doing cross (transition to F2L) which was for me really important! I hope i helped you out a bit, I'm currently at 11 seconds average.

Thanks Reinier!

I would say this thread belongs in the speedcubing help section. not the Video gallery.

Alright. I'll move it.

 

[chicken9290]

sub 11 is easy just practice.

 

[DaKrazedKyubizt]

sub 11 is easy just practice.

Thanks. Real helpful.

I don't mean to bite at you at all, but frankly, that was a little bit rude. Do you not think I've been practicing? Of course I've been practicing. I've been practicing so much for the past few months, but I've seen such minimal improvement. I think that means I need help. Somebody else's eyes are obviously better than mine. I need to borrow their eyes to help me fix my mistakes. Why do you think I made the thread?

I guess your brain picks things up and breaks things down better than mine does. If you'd like to know, my brain tends to trip over itself quite a bit. When I can focus, I can average around 12.5, but often times, I can't even sustain sub-14 because my brain is too busy tripping over itself. I'm even getting vision therapy to help my brain to not trip over itself so much. I'm surprised I even grazed sub-12. But now, I can't seem to go any farther. It's very clear that I need help. That's why I'm getting help. Some people (i.e. me) need more help than others (i.e. you). "Sub 11 is easy just practice" isn't helping. Please post helpful replies. Thanks.

BTW, I just moved this thread to the "Speedcubing Help" section.