YOUR 3x3/4x4/2x2/Pyraminx Speedcubing Journey

[Jennah]

Hey everyone. I was wondering, which drills/practices (or anything really) did you use to help you reach certain goals for 3x3, 2x2, 4x4, and/or pyaminx? For example, you did X to break the sub-30 barrier on 3x3, then you did x and x for sub-25, and so on. Everyone is different so i'm curious to see what you guys did and what might be the most effective methods to reach certain goals. It might be helpful for me and for anyone to understand someone else's speedcubing journey and gain ideas from it. )It doesn't have to be 3x3, 2x2, 4x4, or pyraminx specifically of course; I just said that because those are the events that I am doing currently.)

Thank you in advance!

 

[Celeritardum]

I currently average high to mid 3 on pyraminx. For me I was probably already talented at the puzzle because I got sub 15 with just practicing LBL. To become sub 10 I just grinded a lot and did tips first every solve. For sub 7 I learned intuitive L4E and although I didn't have the best TPS during that stage I was able to learn the concepts pretty quickly. After that I watched a bunch of videos on blockbuilding specifically the one by cube master because I was still building the centers and then inserting the edges with triggers. That got me to about sub 6 and after that progress was slow. During that stage I did a lot of solves so I got really familiar with how the pyraminx turned. I slowly became able to 1 look my Vs and also was able to 1 look L4E. That brings me to sub 5 and I stayed there for quite a while because I was doing other events. Once I got back into pyraminx I learned the optimal ways to do L4E and practiced making my Vs more efficient again. By that time I had about 3.8 TPS. Nowadays I have realized how inefficient my Vs are and am using the Solvers tool on csTimer to get them better. I am also learning to 1 look easy Vs. If you want to get fast at pyraminx at any level I would 100% recommend this video:

It is the best.

 

[Jennah]

I currently average high to mid 3 on pyraminx. For me I was probably already talented at the puzzle because I got sub 15 with just practicing LBL. To become sub 10 I just grinded a lot and did tips first every solve. For sub 7 I learned intuitive L4E and although I didn't have the best TPS during that stage I was able to learn the concepts pretty quickly. After that I watched a bunch of videos on blockbuilding specifically the one by cube master because I was still building the centers and then inserting the edges with triggers. That got me to about sub 6 and after that progress was slow. During that stage I did a lot of solves so I got really familiar with how the pyraminx turned. I slowly became able to 1 look my Vs and also was able to 1 look L4E. That brings me to sub 5 and I stayed there for quite a while because I was doing other events. Once I got back into pyraminx I learned the optimal ways to do L4E and practiced making my Vs more efficient again. By that time I had about 3.8 TPS. Nowadays I have realized how inefficient my Vs are and am using the Solvers tool on csTimer to get them better. I am also learning to 1 look easy Vs. If you want to get fast at pyraminx at any level I would 100% recommend this video:

It is the best.

Wow thanks for sharing!

I will totally have to check out that video.

 

[Davian]

Dont check out that video, check out that whole yt channel, its so good for pyraminx people who want to be faster

 

[CoderGuru]

Hey everyone. I was wondering, which drills/practices (or anything really) did you use to help you reach certain goals for 3x3, 2x2, 4x4, and/or pyaminx? For example, you did X to break the sub-30 barrier on 3x3, then you did x and x for sub-25, and so on. Everyone is different so i'm curious to see what you guys did and what might be the most effective methods to reach certain goals. It might be helpful for me and for anyone to understand someone else's speedcubing journey and gain ideas from it. )It doesn't have to be 3x3, 2x2, 4x4, or pyraminx specifically of course; I just said that because those are the events that I am doing currently.)

Thank you in advance!

I was sub 1 min with a rubiks brand until I got a Gan 11 (I know, big jump). After that I learned CFOP and initially was at Sub 45. I kept practicing and learned F2L tricks to slowly lower my average, without much focus on LL. I got to around Sub 35 this way. I proceeded to learn Full PLL and got to sub 30. After this, I had a break from cubing, after which I grinded 3x3 pracrice, especially F2L, and got to where I am, Sub 20

 

[Jennah]

I was sub 1 min with a rubiks brand until I got a Gan 11 (I know, big jump). After that I learned CFOP and initially was at Sub 45. I kept practicing and learned F2L tricks to slowly lower my average, without much focus on LL. I got to around Sub 35 this way. I proceeded to learn Full PLL and got to sub 30. After this, I had a break from cubing, after which I grinded 3x3 pracrice, especially F2L, and got to where I am, Sub 20

Thanks for sharing! I also made a pretty big jump because I went from using a random cheap 2x2 "speedcube" to using the Gan 251 M Pro. I regretted buying such an expensive cube, but I don't regret it anymore because it's perfect for me and has lasted a long time. Same story with my Weilong WR M 2021 maglev.

 

[CoderGuru]

Thanks for sharing! I also made a pretty big jump because I went from using a random cheap 2x2 "speedcube" to using the Gan 251 M Pro. I regretted buying such an expensive cube, but I don't regret it anymore because it's perfect for me and has lasted a long time. Same story with my Weilong WR M 2021 maglev.

Yeah, with 2x2, something like the Valk/MGC would obviously have been a better option but at least it helps you out

 

[GloopyGum]

Hey everyone. I was wondering, which drills/practices (or anything really) did you use to help you reach certain goals for 3x3, 2x2, 4x4, and/or pyaminx? For example, you did X to break the sub-30 barrier on 3x3, then you did x and x for sub-25, and so on. Everyone is different so i'm curious to see what you guys did and what might be the most effective methods to reach certain goals. It might be helpful for me and for anyone to understand someone else's speedcubing journey and gain ideas from it. )It doesn't have to be 3x3, 2x2, 4x4, or pyraminx specifically of course; I just said that because those are the events that I am doing currently.)

Thank you in advance!

I got my first speedcube back in 2017 when I was nine. (It was an old Meilong, non-magnetic) I went to a cube camp over the summer, learned how to solve the cube, and got to averaging mid 30s not too long after. I didn't really cube much from 2018 until just over a year ago when I picked up cubing again. (At that point I was maining a cheap Qiyi cube I got at my friend's birthday lol)

I learned F2L and Full PLL at around the same time, and got to averaging around 20 seconds. After learning full OLL, better F2L tricks and doing lots of practice, I got to where I am today, sub 13.

Fun fact: Y, T, and R perm were three of the first PLLs I learned because I was learning 3BLD before I knew half the PLLs lmao

 

[Jennah]

I got my first speedcube back in 2017 when I was nine. (It was an old Meilong, non-magnetic) I went to a cube camp over the summer, learned how to solve the cube, and got to averaging mid 30s not too long after. I didn't really cube much from 2018 until just over a year ago when I picked up cubing again. (At that point I was maining a cheap Qiyi cube I got at my friend's birthday lol)

I learned F2L and Full PLL at around the same time, and got to averaging around 20 seconds. After learning full OLL, better F2L tricks and doing lots of practice, I got to where I am today, sub 13.

Fun fact: Y, T, and R perm were three of the first PLLs I learned because I was learning 3BLD before I knew half the PLLs lmao

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Jennah]

I thought I would share my 2x2 journey because it's what got me into speedcubing.

Long story short, (this was last summer) I was at my cousin's house overseas. My cousin had a 2x2 and tried to teach me how to solve it. It didn't work, so when I got back home, I ordered this set off of Amazon and learned how to solve the 2x2 first. I was using the beginner's method. I scrolled all the way to the bottom of my 2x2 session on CubeDesk and my times were literally anywhere between 15-30 seconds, more or less, too. I was looking up faster methods and I came across the Ortega method. I told myself that once I ordered a real speedcube, I would learn the method. So, me being new to speedcubing, thinking that if I bought one of the most expensive 2x2s on the market, it would make me faster, bought the Gan 251 M Pro. I learned the Ortega method and was drilling the algs.

When I was averaging somewhere in between 7-9 seconds, I realized that all of my algs/fingertricks were not very good, so I re-learned some fingertricks and algs. That helped me shave a few seconds off of my average I think. When I was averaging 6-7 seconds, I realized that my face building was extremely inefficient. I realized this when I was watching Jperm's video called something like "How to get faster with the Ortega method." I was watching him build faces during different examples, and I have never improved my 2x2 solves so much after watching one video. I was doing extremely inefficient piece insertions, and by watching Jperm, I learned a million different ways to do it better. This brought me where I am now, averaging 5 seconds.

Now, I am beginning to learn CLL.

 

[IsThatA4x4]

I only really remember exactly what I did at ~sub-20. That was around when I chose to learn OLL. From there I slowly improved to sub-18 by just grinding some solves. Then, I practiced quite a lot, and I improved very quickly to about 13s by slowly working out better F2L solutions for annoying cases and trying to lookahead as best I could.
I remember something very important for getting past ~sub-13 on 3x3 for me was trying to focus on making my turning as smooth and fluid as possible (not necessarily fast) so that lookahead was easier; and finding better LL algs for cases I didn't like.
For sub-10, I really started focusing on making sure my back slots get filled first, and planning more during cross when possible - now I am trying to increase my TPS during F2L while still maintaining good lookahead to hopefully break sub-9 soon.

 

[Jennah]

I only really remember exactly what I did at ~sub-20. That was around when I chose to learn OLL. From there I slowly improved to sub-18 by just grinding some solves. Then, I practiced quite a lot, and I improved very quickly to about 13s by slowly working out better F2L solutions for annoying cases and trying to lookahead as best I could.
I remember something very important for getting past ~sub-13 on 3x3 for me was trying to focus on making my turning as smooth and fluid as possible (not necessarily fast) so that lookahead was easier; and finding better LL algs for cases I didn't like.
For sub-10, I really started focusing on making sure my back slots get filled first, and planning more during cross when possible - now I am trying to increase my TPS during F2L while still maintaining good lookahead to hopefully break sub-9 soon.

Good luck with sub-9!