# How to practice



## Escher (Mar 6, 2011)

I've been wanting to make this thread for a while since it's something that plenty of people don't really seem to 'get'. 

Although I'll mostly be using 3x3 and CFOP as my basis for examples, I'll try to keep each rule or guide as generalisable as possible to other methods and puzzles.

In general, practice should take into account several areas:

- Method - how you solve the puzzle.
- Technique - how your hands move the puzzle.
- Recognition/Look-ahead - what pieces you need to look for, how fast you can recognise them, and your familiarity with how they move.


Valuable practice is:

- Goal-oriented - what you want to achieve; both short and long-term aims.
- Structured - start with A, move on to B, concentrate on C, go back to A.
- Reflective - "x, y, z was weak last solve/session, try not to repeat the mistakes next solve/session/time I get that case".

It's often said that it is the perfectionists in any competitive sport that represent the best. If you don't naturally possess that attitude, adopt it.

Throughout each session, you should be constantly questioning all of your standards. If you can see nothing wrong with your solves then you probably see nothing wrong with being at your current speed. Change that attitude.


To expand on each point:

Method
'Method' includes
- Your familiarity with the intuitive parts of solves. 
- Your understanding of the reasoning behind steps and algorithms.
- Knowledge and familiarity with the method you use as a whole - how steps and sub-steps interact (this is extremely important for overall fluidity in solves).

This particular area can often be improved simply by playing around with your puzzle/method casually and untimed. Try to find shortcuts or new approaches or optimisations. Working out different ways of recognising cases or visualising pieces is important to increase your understanding of the puzzle. Learn how commutators work, read up on cube theory, ask questions on the forum and search for answers. 

Try and invent new and intuitive ways of solving the puzzle. Learn the methods used to solve the puzzle blindfolded. Play with other speedsolving methods. In order to really understand your method and how it works, you need a context which can only be gained through reading about and using other methods. If you're sub 20 with Fridrich then you can be sub 20 with ZZ, Petrus and Roux, no doubt.

Thinking about the 'interaction' of steps and sub-steps helped my f2l in CFOP immensely. Once you realise that the purpose of many of these substeps is to make things easier for your brain you know you can surpass them. Who needs a cross when you can build an x-cross? Who needs one algorithm for the last slot and leave the number of oriented edges to chance when you can force EO skips and even OLL skips?

A method is just making a puzzle digestible. Getting used to a method involves expanding your brain, so you should be able to take on larger chunks...



Technique

This is something that really, really gets left out in the general community consciousness. When you look across other disciplines that require a certain level of technique, almost _all_ of them have technical exercises and drills. However, that isn't explicit in cubing at all since it's such a new sport; there is no comprehensive 'standard' set of fingertricks one must learn.

Right now, you have to figure out optimal turning-style yourself. Yes, you can watch videos of the fastest people and attempt to adopt their style, or learn solving off the big youtube names and copy their turning, but it's very important to keep in mind that if you don't properly explore turning technique yourself you won't be able to really see when you make mistakes; unnecessary hand, wrist and finger movements are a waste of energy and just impede your own potential.

Something that has always irritated me is when people say 'I can't do x,y,z style of turn, it just doesn't work for me'. 
Yes, some people's hands will be just too small to execute certain things properly, or some people's hands will be a little too big, and some are naturally more dextrous than others... 
But just look at musical instruments. A massive variety of people with different sized hands and levels of natural dexterity can all learn to use standard technique and adopt it, no matter how uncomfortable it is at the start. Trust me, barre chords feel like dirt to begin with.

The lesson I'm trying to get at is that even though a fingertrick may seem uncomfortable and feel like it 'doesn't fit', you have to push through it. If someone who has been cubing 5 years can adopt new fingertricks (hi Breandan), then someone who has been cubing 5 months definitely can.

Another thing that seems an obvious problem for many new and old cubers is that they don't consider what's going to happen 'after' the algorithm they're currently performing. If your way of solving f2l pairs/an OLL case leaves your hand in a bad position, or requires a regrip, or is 'tiring' or too explosive, then you should reconsider how to approach it. While you may not find a more optimal execution (some cases are just bad), you may find new angles or ways of avoiding that particular case that are a better approach. Practice your transitions between f2l cases or OLL and PLL cases.

To demonstrate the reasoning: we all know that executing "U, U" sucks while you are searching for pieces or recognising OLL. It makes much more sense to tech in a fingertrick that works when you aren't already expecting to do a U2. Adding the LH index finger push on LBU, although it feels weird, definitely makes sense after a while, especially once you use it a few times in f2l. It means you can make a turn while allowing your RH to 'reset' and prepare for the most likely RH dominant alg you're about to perform, rather than keeping it used and making it marginally more tired and less quick. This is what is meant by 'hand balance'.

I've found that something useful to keep in mind is that your fingers really do 'tire' somewhat. Just do U turns repeatedly and watch your finger get tired. Then do U turns with a little break in between and see that if you allow your finger muscles some time to recover slightly you get less of a drop in speed between each repeat. The U flick is one of the most 'tiring' moves because it is so explosive and your finger covers a reasonable distance. Compare this to a finger push and you'll see that it's far less explosive, your finger joint bends less and the finger travels less far and thus has less far to return to normal position. However, it is slower. The trick to using the two effectively is knowing where one will fit where the other would be less smooth or less consistent or more tiring.

Take algorithms that look like they will suck using normal fingertricks. Experiment, play around, adopt maybe some OH style turning for some occasions, look at videos of PLLs and OLLs from as many different cubers as possible and emulate or improve them, try to reduce regrips, stick in a few index pushes, maintain hand balance during f2l, learn to U2' doubleflick...



Recognition & Lookahead

What is important to keep in mind (and this is a generalisable maxim across puzzles), is that CFOP is not a 7-step method, it's a 1-step method: solve the cube.

It doesn't take long to become familiar with CFOP, perhaps 6 months to a year of decent practice. Beyond that, each step of a method (and thinking in 'steps') just becomes a hindrance. You want to solve as much as possible with as few pauses as possible while turning just fast enough to keep your brain pushed.

In regards to lookahead, it's important to keep your mind empty and relaxed. The pieces are right in front of you, there is little need to frantically search. Once you allow yourself to see more of the cube rather than just 'gotta find that green/red edge!!!' you'll realise that CFOP is very flexible. Speedcubing is about taking a complex process and reducing it to a simple process and finally an unconscious process. This can happen a lot faster than you think, but often doesn't, ironically because we 'think' too much. 

Something I found that helped my understanding of pieces (and thus knowing where they would end up) was not just experience but also working on visualising them in different ways. For example, I was originally taught f2l as 'hiding' edges and corners, but I soon forgot that after concentrating more on other sources. Once I remembered this prior learning I realised something quite important. During f2l, one move can be both 'hiding' one piece and 'showing' another. What's the point of doing the two separately? Combining f2l cases and 'multi-slotting' became much easier after I saw the parallels between f2l pairs and how many cases are practically the same, save a couple of moves.

It's hard to explain recognition and lookahead without too much waffle so I'll just go right ahead and say - after a certain point solving becomes automatic. Once you get to that stage, use what you've learnt from it and leave it. Try to predict what's going to happen much further away than you would normally think possible. Try to solve the cube in 4 or 5 looks. Don't forget however, that self-expression is important. If you can create your own effective ways to practice x technique then it means you really understand what x technique requires.

You should be constantly questioning your methods, your technique, your turning speed and style, your own abilities, why you are at certain levels and not others... You should be re-inventing ways of looking at pieces, trying to understand how they relate, working on smooth algorithms, learning new ones, blending steps, looking at different types of pieces while you solve others... You could even try to look for parallels in other mind sports and see how they practice and deal with problems, but the *key* thing is _making what used to be hard work as unconscious as possible._

Zarxrax posted a thread a while ago with an article about memory as a mind-sport and explains some elements of practice much more comprehensively than I can - anyone who has got this far should read that too. In there is an important quote from Bruce Lee that any serious speedcuber should take to heart:

“There are no limits. There are plateaus, and you must not stay there; you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you.”




I'll be sure to edit this with any corrections or improvements. As soon as I can I'm going to make some videos, I just really wanted to get my ideas down here first. I'll try to answer any questions, hopefully this can become a useful sticky.

(tl;dr: don't be a nub)


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## hic2482w (Mar 6, 2011)

Good job! Although I'd say it takes less than 6 months to get familiar with CFOP, it took me 4.

STICKY!


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## RyanReese09 (Mar 6, 2011)

Insanely helpful article Escher. Brilliant. Amazing effort in creating this. Read everything you wrote .


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## Mirzon (Mar 6, 2011)

This was an awesome post and very well organized. The information was quite helpful. If I had a vote it would be sticky as well. Thanks for the great information.


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## cmhardw (Mar 6, 2011)

Read every word, very nicely written tutorial! I have things to work on in my practice now


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## teller (Mar 6, 2011)

Five stars!

Thank you, kind sir.


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## celli (Mar 6, 2011)

Thanks for this information. This was really helpful for me!!!!!
STICKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## y235 (Mar 6, 2011)

Really good tutorial!
Written well.


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## FatBoyXPC (Mar 8, 2011)

Thanksfully Mike mentioned this in another thread, otherwise I would have missed this. I applaud yet another great write up, Rowan


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## IamWEB (Mar 24, 2011)

Thankfully teller mentioned this in another thread, otherwise I would have missed this. I applaud this amazing (and seemingly necessary) write up, Rowan .

Why doesn't this have more replies!? Are cubers losing their ability to read anything other than F2LRUDB'OPMSE?


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## Meisen (Mar 24, 2011)

I must say i agree with the cries for "sticky this tread". It felt usefull for me at my current level, and i'm sure it can be of even greater use for someone that's "recently" gotten into speedcubing!

This thread is simply put valuable reading material for people that want to minimize time spent struggeling with time barriers!


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## Mike Hughey (Mar 24, 2011)

@Rowan: Still waiting for that sample practice schedule for someone around 20 seconds that we talked about...


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## Godmil (Mar 24, 2011)

Ooh great OP... wait, it's from 2 weeks ago? How did I miss it until now?


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## Escher (Mar 24, 2011)

Mike Hughey said:


> @Rowan: Still waiting for that sample practice schedule for someone around 20 seconds that we talked about...


 
I'd forgotten about that!
I haven't got a chunk of free time for a while so I'll piece together some bits over the next few days, should have something up by early next week 

@others, thanks for the nice comments


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## Mike Hughey (Mar 24, 2011)

Escher said:


> I'd forgotten about that!
> I haven't got a chunk of free time for a while so I'll piece together some bits over the next few days, should have something up by early next week


 
Awesome - I'm looking forward to it. (I've basically taken a break from 3x3x3 practice, other than the races and weekly comps, until I get to read your next post for this.)


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## stoic (Mar 24, 2011)

Great post. Should definitely be a sticky


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## Selkie (Mar 24, 2011)

Indeed great post, read the lot at work at lunch, and again this evening. It is certainly going to shape the way I practice in future.


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## Pyjam (Mar 24, 2011)

This thread is the best contribution since I registered.
Thank you.


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## cubeslayer (Mar 25, 2011)

Thank you. Time to Cube, but this time thoughtfully.


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## gbcuber (Mar 25, 2011)

Thanks so much for this thread, I've been stuck at 20-ish seconds for like 3 months, now I know what I was doing wrong, just mindlessly solving instead of constantly paying attention to what I was doing


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## Cube321 (Mar 25, 2011)

THANK YOU. Sticky.


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## CubicNL (Mar 27, 2011)

Very nice tutorial!


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## Selkie (Apr 20, 2011)

Selkie said:


> Indeed great post, read the lot at work at lunch, and again this evening. It is certainly going to shape the way I practice in future.


 

Have to say 3 weeks on and the improvement in that time with this advise has eclipsed my prior progression. This should be required reading matter for any cuber :tu


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## Pandadudex96 (Jun 3, 2011)

For all the new cubers, this guide would be in my opinion one the most helpful intros into speedcubing with CFOP method. Good job!!!


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## chicken9290 (Jul 2, 2011)

average your F2L and ull be amazing. i started doing it and started averaging 10-12.95


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## Jorghi (Jul 2, 2011)

... Or you can just look up optimal F2L algorithms for cases you are bad at. You improve a lot faster xD


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## jla (Jul 24, 2011)

THANK YOU!!


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## jaywong88 (Oct 27, 2011)

wow..nice one..i'm just playing cube for this last 4 month..right now my best time only 30s (lucky) and avg 50s...stil finding the fastest to solve the cube
this thread really help a lot..
practice make perfect


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## shiqi peng (Dec 2, 2011)

Thanks for you sharing,I find a new way of my cubing career！


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## jaywong88 (Dec 11, 2011)

really .. nice advice...practice makes perfect


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## JonnyWhoopes (Dec 11, 2011)

jaywong88 said:


> really .. nice advice...practice makes perfect


 
Perfect practice makes perfect. However you practice becomes permanent, which is why you must practice in a profitable manner. That's what this thread is for.


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## pribic (Feb 22, 2012)

It is really a helpful one. Thanks for uploading this. This will certainly help many to improve their time.


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## rebuttal (Mar 15, 2012)

Many thanks, i just heard from someone that i make things simple if take the magic cube as an analogy.


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## deathmaths11 (Apr 19, 2012)

I don't really understand, can you make it shorter and more simple for me?


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## Escher (Apr 19, 2012)

deathmaths11 said:


> I don't really understand, can you make it shorter and more simple for me?


 
I tried to make it as short and clear as it can be, a mini-list slightly defeats the point, but I'll do my best:

- Think about what is objectively good, compared to just what the fast people are doing; try and do that. If some fast people are already doing what you thought of - the easier for you to emulate them.
- Good practice breaks big things down so it is easier to annihilate your mistakes.
- Always be hyper-critical of your mistakes and drive to get rid of them - there is always something you're doing wrong, whether you're sup 2:30 or sub 8.
- Focus on making simple substeps as easy and fluid as possible.
- Lookahead is basically meditative, which is why speedcubing is so satisfying; you have to take yourself away from what is literally happening with the cube (the turns themselves) and identify other pieces, and 'the bigger picture' of the solve.

Hope this helps. Please do re-read the thread though, I feel I included very little that isn't essential to thinking about practising.


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## Petro Leum (May 6, 2012)

Escher said:


> In regards to lookahead, it's important to keep your mind empty and relaxed. The pieces are right in front of you, there is little need to frantically search. Once you allow yourself to see more of the cube rather than just 'gotta find that green/red edge!!!' you'll realise that CFOP is very flexible. Speedcubing is about taking a complex process and reducing it to a simple process and finally an unconscious process. This can happen a lot faster than you think, but often doesn't, ironically because we 'think' too much.


 easier said than done. thats what i noticed however. whenever i try hard to get good times and start "looking for pieces really fast" my times are often over 5 secs worse than when im just relaxed and dont expect anything.


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## kevinccce (Feb 6, 2013)

Very nice article. Thanks!


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## Rubiksfreak (Mar 3, 2013)

*12 Average*

So I've been averaging 12 seconds for probably three years, I need to get faster. I know practice is the key but if three years of practice doesn't do it I'm doing something wrong. Any ideas? Sorry i don't have a video for you but maybe you guys could put your person experiences and what helped you guys to get to sub 10 or even sub 11


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## ben1996123 (Mar 3, 2013)

practise


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## Snoutmol (Mar 3, 2013)

What method do you use? Do you already know all of Fridrich, for example?


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## Rubiksfreak (Mar 3, 2013)

I use fridrich and i do know full fridrich!

I have a feeling my f2l might be slow due to not looking ahead as much as i should


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## ben1996123 (Mar 3, 2013)

Rubiksfreak said:


> I have a feeling my f2l might be slow due to not looking ahead as much as i should



look ahead more, use a metronome if you find that useful.

the edit button is a thing that exists.


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## Escher (Mar 3, 2013)

Rubiksfreak said:


> So I've been averaging 12 seconds for probably three years, I need to get faster. I know practice is the key but if three years of practice doesn't do it I'm doing something wrong. Any ideas? Sorry i don't have a video for you but maybe you guys could put your person experiences and what helped you guys to get to sub 10 or even sub 11



Hm. 3 years averaging 12 seconds? You would've been top 100 3 years ago I think 

I would guess that what's happened is that you aren't really pushing yourself in every single solve to get faster. It's very easy to auto-pilot and grind away without thinking about what you're doing. I'd recommend taking a break from timing your solves and work on reducing pauses and making them more aesthetically pleasing. Try and vary your pacing a lot between solves to find the pace that begins to introduce too many delays. Be harsh on yourself. With that amount of practise your fingertricks will definitely be far more than fast enough, but it will presumably be the time spent not turning that is holding you back


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## jeff081692 (Mar 4, 2013)

One thing that I considered doing is adjusting the tensions on my cube after an extended period of time. I'm not quite at 12 seconds and beyond yet but it gives a new perspective of your abilities sometimes. For example when I get new cubes I often beat my personal record. Since when I get my cube a certain way, over time I adjust my turning style so that I don't get pops often. But then I look at faster cubers and it seems like my cube is inferior. And if you are like me and don't adjust tension over time you might subconsciously always limit your cubing to not turn any faster to avoid pops thus being at a barrier. Even if you cube just as much as someone else, if you are limiting yourself like this then obviously you won't improve as fast.
That's just my observations though. It's also important to do as Escher says and be conscious of what is going right and what is going wrong in your solves and think about how to not keep making the same mistakes that are holding you back.


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## Rubiksfreak (Mar 4, 2013)

*Re: How to practice.*

Thanks so much for the advice everyone, i think you're both right. When i do solves they're usually timed solves. I also rarely do slow solves like i should, so i just need to work on looking ahead. I never tension my cubes either, obviously i do when i first get them but thats it. And my zhanchi it feels really loose but if i try to pop an edge out it takes a good amount of force, and when i do get one out there is little black shavings in it. I think the lube i have is melting the cube very slowly;(


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## rodri (Mar 17, 2013)

*How long should I practice for?*

hi I'm pretty new to speed cubing averaging 1:30 3x3x3 and i was wondering how long should i practice? i don't want to practice to long and mess up my wrist or something but i don't want to spend to little. How long do you guys practice and do your wrist start to hurt?


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## AlexByard (Mar 17, 2013)

*Re: How long?*

As much as you want.... Turn the cube with your fingers.

Sent from my MT11i using Tapatalk 2


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## rodri (Mar 17, 2013)

thanks  i do but for some strange reason i thought it would hurt my wrist lol xD


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## MirzaCubing (Mar 17, 2013)

1 - 2 hours should suffice. Sometimes it's good to have a few 30 minute sessions throughout the day. After a while your brain stops thinking and you can't pull off times you normally get, which is why the sessions here and there are good. Also, you don't want to get into the bad habit of too much practice.


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## Noahaha (Mar 17, 2013)

Until you get a WR. Then stop.


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## kunparekh18 (Mar 17, 2013)

*Re: How long should I practice for?*



MirzaCubing said:


> 1 - 2 hours should suffice. Sometimes it's good to have a few 30 minute sessions throughout the day. After a while your brain stops thinking and you can't pull off times you normally get, which is why the sessions here and there are good. Also, you don't want to get into the bad habit of too much practice.



This, plus I dont think.cubing can lead to wrist pain. Finger ache maybe, but not wrist pain.

Sent from my A75 using Tapatalk 2


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## Bestsimple (Mar 17, 2013)

I've actually never experienced any pain. That wrist pain doesn't sound too good.


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## redbeat0222 (Mar 17, 2013)

Memorize as many pairs as you can an solve them blindfolded. Do the cross blindfolded. Memorize two pairs, solve one and predict where the next one will end up and how it will be oriented.


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## CuberCat (Mar 19, 2013)

Thank you! Great job. I was wondering what COLL is, anyone know? Thanks guys!


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## JasonK (Mar 19, 2013)

CuberCat said:


> Thank you! Great job. I was wondering what COLL is, anyone know? Thanks guys!



COLL solves the corners of the last layer, while preserving edge orientation. In CFOP, you basically use it to force easy PLLs when you have an all-edges-oriented OLL case.


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## cxinlee (Mar 19, 2013)

kunparekh18 said:


> This, plus I dont think.cubing can lead to wrist pain. Finger ache maybe, but not wrist pain.
> 
> Sent from my A75 using Tapatalk 2


Ever heard of cuber's wrist?


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## kunparekh18 (Mar 19, 2013)

*Re: How to practice.*



cxinlee said:


> Ever heard of cuber's wrist?



No

Sent from my A75 using Tapatalk 2


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## antoineccantin (Mar 19, 2013)

kunparekh18 said:


> No
> 
> Sent from my A75 using Tapatalk 2



http://www.google.ca/search?q=Rubik's+Wrist


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## ben1996123 (Mar 19, 2013)

Noahaha said:


> Until you get a WR. Then stop.



or do bld for a week then quit


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## mark49152 (Mar 20, 2013)

kunparekh18 said:


> This, plus I dont think.cubing can lead to wrist pain. Finger ache maybe, but not wrist pain.


Wrong. If you get wrist pain, rest immediately. Unless you enjoy pain and want it for a few weeks...


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## cxinlee (Mar 20, 2013)

mark49152 said:


> Wrong. If you get wrist pain, rest immediately. Unless you enjoy pain and want it for a few weeks...


I believe it may be permanant.


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## mark49152 (Mar 20, 2013)

cxinlee said:


> I believe it may be permanant.


Not necessarily, although if you get it once you might be at higher risk of getting it again.


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## TomH (Mar 29, 2013)

*Why am I so inconsistent?*

I average just under 30 seconds frequently, normally around 27-28 seconds. The problem is, my consistency is terrible. My last average of 12 ranged between a 23.21 and a 34.44. how can i work on this? i understand practice makes perfect, but has anyone else had this problem, and if so, how did you fix it?


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## applemobile (Mar 29, 2013)

Consistency comes with time. Presumably you use cfop, untill you have every pll and OLL at the same speed, you will always be inconsistent.


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## TheNextFeliks (Mar 29, 2013)

TomH said:


> I average just under 30 seconds frequently, normally around 27-28 seconds. The problem is, my consistency is terrible. My last average of 12 ranged between a 23.21 and a 34.44. how can i work on this? i understand practice makes perfect, but has anyone else had this problem, and if so, how did you fix it?



I am at the same point and same scenario. Just practice I guess.


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## Ross The Boss (Mar 29, 2013)

lol, i was thinking about making the same thred. my times range between 15 and 27 seconds some times. i sure it will balance out eventually.


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## TomH (Mar 29, 2013)

awesome, thanks c: figured it was the olls and plls. in the process of getting all of my plls memorized right now. And yea i searched the topic and no one else was talking about the problem and it was kind of discouraging xD glad to know its normal!


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## Divineskulls (Mar 29, 2013)

I've noticed that some people are just naturally more consistent than others. I'm very inconsistent with every event I practice. For 3x3, I range from 11 second avg5s to 15 second avg5s sometimes. Even with megaminx, a normal avg12 for me has 3-4 sup-1:00s and 4-5 sub-55s. I know some people that are super consistent, and have always been that way. One person off the top of my head is Chris Wall, whose PBs(5/12/100) for mega are within like 3 seconds of each other, which I think is insane. 

The good thing about being inconsistent, though, is that you can get singles that are much faster than your avgs. The bad thing is obviously that someone who is inconsistent doesn't get avgs that are...well...consistent. 

tl;dr If you are naturally inconsistent, sometimes you can't help it.

But at your level, it's very possible that you'll become way more consistent with practice.


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## hkpnkp (Nov 21, 2013)

how can i increase my finger speed ?


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## Escher (Nov 21, 2013)

Just get as familiar as possible with turning the cube quickly, whether thats through drilling your PLLs or just holding it and turning randomly as fast as you can while you do something else like watch TV... You're training a set of muscles, just like any other physical hobby - it will come with time and repetition.


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## brian724080 (Nov 21, 2013)

hkpnkp said:


> how can i increase my finger speed ?



I could achieve 10+ TPS in a few days of getting my cube, because I play piano and cello. If you don't, you just have to drill your finger tricks.


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## hkpnkp (Nov 22, 2013)

Escher said:


> Just get as familiar as possible with turning the cube quickly, whether thats through drilling your PLLs or just holding it and turning randomly as fast as you can while you do something else like watch TV... You're training a set of muscles, just like any other physical hobby - it will come with time and repetition.



thanks


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## pichuncha (Nov 24, 2013)

Thanks for this information. This was really helpful for me!!!!!


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## cubingboss (Nov 26, 2013)

I would like to be sub-20.
My cross is about 3-5 seconds.
My F2L is about 10 seconds.
My LL is about 8 seconds.
What should I practice?


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## Escher (Nov 26, 2013)

cubingboss said:


> I would like to be sub-20.
> My cross is about 3-5 seconds.
> My F2L is about 10 seconds.
> My LL is about 8 seconds.
> What should I practice?



Well, you should realise that this information doesn't tell me what you need to practise - perhaps that's something I should add to the OP.

Some generic advice would be to work on getting your f2l to 12 seconds - this doesn't require learning; just creativity and lots of repetition and play. Figure out new tricks for your crosses, test different approaches, learn how to use keyhole etc. Just have fun basically. Then you can improve your last layer with simple learned material easily.


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## jeff081692 (Nov 26, 2013)

cubingboss said:


> I would like to be sub-20.
> My cross is about 3-5 seconds.
> My F2L is about 10 seconds.
> My LL is about 8 seconds.
> What should I practice?



If that is the way you want to go about getting better, then from another thread a generic breakdown of your solves should strive to be around 12% cross, 62% F2L including cross, and 38% last layer.
for 20 seconds that would be 

Cross: 2.40
F2L (including cross): 12.4
LL: 7.6

extra stuff
F2L no cross: 10
Cross+1: 4.9

compare those numbers to yours and see what is most off and there you go. 

I know a lot of people say just do full solves since you practice everything but every once in a while I check my solves against the ratios of arbitrary goals and focus on that step more closely during my solves and check out reconstructions and slow down videos of fast cubers to see if I can pick up any new ways of executing certain movements that are awkward for me.


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## CriticalCubing (Mar 9, 2014)

How you found that ? Can you give me a link ?


jeff081692 said:


> If that is the way you want to go about getting better, then from another thread a generic breakdown of your solves should strive to be around 12% cross, 62% F2L including cross, and 38% last layer.
> for 20 seconds that would be
> 
> Cross: 2.40
> ...


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## jeff081692 (Mar 9, 2014)

CriticalCubing said:


> How you found that ? Can you give me a link ?



http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/s...bing-training-that-yields-systematic-progress


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## CriticalCubing (Mar 9, 2014)

Thanks a Lot 


jeff081692 said:


> http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/s...bing-training-that-yields-systematic-progress


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## suhoon (May 1, 2014)

Helped a lot!
Thanks!


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## PJKCuber (Mar 5, 2015)

Brilliance!


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## mns112 (May 17, 2015)

thanks .. this post helped alot


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## RoXas (Jun 8, 2015)

Congratulations! It was very motivating to me read this  I only have 5 months practicing... I still have to learn more things but read this was very great!!!
Good job!


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## Thom Treebus (Sep 2, 2015)

This was really helpful. Thank you!!!


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## Lyssalikesthing (Sep 23, 2015)

Great post. Practice, practice, practice. Just gotta keep working on it.


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## stoic (Dec 27, 2015)

Just finished reading a book I got for Xmas, and I think it has a lot of relevance here: "Bounce" by Matthew Syed. 
The author is a former table tennis champion, and sets out to discuss "The myth of talent and the power of practice". 
Particularly noteworthy is the story of Laszlo Polgar, who attempted to dispel the notion that talent is innate using his own children. In his own words: "People tell me the success of my daughters was pure luck...they say it was a coincidence that a man who set about proving the practice theory of excellence using chess just happened to beget the three most talented female chess players in history. Maybe some people just do not want to believe in the power of practice."
And another quote - among many - that caught my eye: "Purposeful practice may not be easy, but it is breathtakingly effective."
Like I say, a great read and recommended.


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## RicardoRix (Dec 27, 2015)

In the same vain as the last post and the original post, I would recommend the book, "The Art of Learning" by Joshua Waitzkin. A US child chess prodigy that beat Grandmasters at the age of 10, and later turned his hand to "Push Hands" (a form of martial art) world championship.


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## TMarshall (Dec 27, 2015)

Anyone have ideas on how to apply this to big cubes? With 5x5 and up, people just say practice a ton, but it seems like there has to be a more efficient way to practice.


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## josh42732 (Dec 28, 2015)

TMarshall said:


> Anyone have ideas on how to apply this to big cubes? With 5x5 and up, people just say practice a ton, but it seems like there has to be a more efficient way to practice.



And with 4x4 in my experience


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## mafergut (Jan 4, 2016)

RicardoRix said:


> In the same vain as the last post and the original post, I would recommend the book, "The Art of Learning" by Joshua Waitzkin. A US child chess prodigy that beat Grandmasters at the age of 10, and later turned his hand to "Push Hands" (a form of martial art) world championship.



It is curious, though, that for such a talented child as Josh, who also counted with the best chess trainers money could buy, he did not reach GM category and completely abandoned chess at around FIDE 2400 ELO. Maybe he lacked determination to succeed or maybe, and only maybe, talent also plays a significant role at top level. In wich case, the people thay claim Lazlo Polgar was lucky to raise such a talented bunch of woman chess players would be right. I tend to think Josh in the end lacked the determination to reach GM level, much less world top class level (around 2650+ / 2700 ELO, which looks like not much higher than 2400 but, believe me, it's A LOT.


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## Escher (Apr 29, 2016)

stoic said:


> Just finished reading a book I got for Xmas, and I think it has a lot of relevance here: "Bounce" by Matthew Syed.
> The author is a former table tennis champion, and sets out to discuss "The myth of talent and the power of practice".
> Particularly noteworthy is the story of Laszlo Polgar, who attempted to dispel the notion that talent is innate using his own children. In his own words: "People tell me the success of my daughters was pure luck...they say it was a coincidence that a man who set about proving the practice theory of excellence using chess just happened to beget the three most talented female chess players in history. Maybe some people just do not want to believe in the power of practice."
> And another quote - among many - that caught my eye: "Purposeful practice may not be easy, but it is breathtakingly effective."
> Like I say, a great read and recommended.



Yeah, I read Bounce around the same time as writing this post (so long ago now!), and I think it has incredibly important lessons for anyone with ambition - in pretty much anything. I think it's incredibly important not only for skill acquisition, but also in having a healthy attitude towards life, success, and helping others achieve their goals in a positive manner.

Achievement is a bit of a tricky one, its very easy to look at 'crowning events' as a discrete thing - consciously or not. It's rather harder to communicate the wealth of information involved in taking ones own portfolio of failures and working on them, than to take a simple expression of them (like winning some competition) and say 'hey this person is skilled'. I think it's quite a shame that the cultural understanding the West (I won't comment for cultures I have no experience of) seems to have of practise etc. This pdf received a lot of attention recently - and I think that's an utter shame. What kind of information are we learning about individuals when we use an achievement based framework that most likely gives us less than half of their input into a given system!

https://www.princeton.edu/~joha/Johannes_Haushofer_CV_of_Failures.pdf

Quite a lot of people have posted regarding about talent - I think it's a real moot point in this age and not worth a great deal of thought in most contexts. I think its quite the Pied Piper for many of us interested in practise. The word normally refers to such an incredibly, incredibly messy set of information, and lots of this information is based on processes we don't fully understand individually, let alone in relationship to one another, and thus also to the individual as a whole. If you follow my thinking, it's kind of like claiming someone is 'creatively intelligent'. It may express itself in an aesthetic or productive manner but I challenge you to break it down without contradictions when applied to a wide set of people who could qualify! It's kind of a tautologous concept until we know more about the brain and the mind.

Better to focus on gaining self-awareness, and nurturing a healthy, forgiving, structure of improvement.


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## ReubenAaron (Sep 20, 2016)

Thanks, I think that this is really useful information!


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## phamtuanktdt (Oct 7, 2016)

It's amazing. I learn a new thing today. Thank you so much for your great post.


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## Speedysolver (Dec 21, 2016)

Hello guys I am cubing 1 year and 8 month got now 11.34 avg of 100.I want wo get sub 10 if it is helpfull i know full pll and i think 35 or more oll algs.I heard that slowturning helps but ho often should i practice it and should I completely stop turning fast and always turn slow if yes then when i should increase my tps.Hope for some good tips.
PS:Sry for my english.


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## Clarkekoko11 (Feb 4, 2018)

What the title says.


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## Prabal Baishya (Feb 4, 2018)

Instead of doing only slow solves everyday, try doing a session with slow solve at the pace in which you can look ahead comfortably and then do another session of solves with your fastest turn speed, challenging your look ahead.


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## Clarkekoko11 (Feb 4, 2018)

Great, thanks! Will do.


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## Subhranil saikat (Feb 4, 2018)

Very helpful article _thanks_ for these tips and techniques


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## FireCuber (Feb 4, 2018)

Clarkekoko11 said:


> What the title says.



How fast do you average and what method to you use?


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## pglewis (Feb 5, 2018)

For me the emphasis is smooth solves not just slower turning. The problem: I often out-turn my lookahead during F2L leading to burst-y solves where I solve an F2L pair quickly, pause, find the next one, etc. If I just practice slower without changing my habits it's of little benefit, the key is to focus on being smoother while turning slower. I try to turn slowly enough to find my next pair and cut out the pauses. With practice, the speed I can turn and still do that with minimal pauses should increase. Pauses are the biggest enemy.


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## greentgoatgal (Feb 5, 2018)

I try to do a lot of untimed solves every day. I find they help way more than slow solves.


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## shadowslice e (Feb 5, 2018)

No it's not necessary to do it everyday. However, it would probably be good for you to do so.


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## Thecuberlife (May 3, 2018)

As of right now I am a 25-60 second solver typically 25-40 50-60 being very rare but occasional. anyway I was wondering from a more experienced solver what should I be practicing and how. Now I’m not asking what to like learn pll I mean actually what do I do so like do blind solves do blah blah blah I don’t know anything else honestly.

Things of help might be whenever I finish cross and f2l it is very often when I look up I’m at 29 seconds so I figure 5-9 secs for cross 20-25 on f2l and my last layer is actually pretty quick (except for e perm which I’m getting faster at but it’s pretty pathetic )I’d say last layer can be from 5-7 or 8. Also something I struggle with that honestly I thing could mess me up by as much a 2-7 seconds is my fumbling. I’ll be doing f2l and looking ahead knowing my algs and then it’s like I lose my grip and then I have to look again cause I forgot where I was and it’s really just annoying. Suggestions here?

So what should I be doing daily I don’t know why but for some reason I can’t word any of this right but like I mean something along these lines

10 normal solves
10 cross solves 
F2l slowly for blah

I don’t know if this makes any sense so sorry in advance and also thanks if you read through my horribly explained post.


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## JustinTimeCuber (May 3, 2018)

Honestly my practice routine has for the most part been "do hella solves" and I guess it worked because I'm almost sub 9 now. Really as long as you're practicing and actively trying to eliminate bad habits, you'll get faster. Basically do a bit of trial and error, and when there's error, don't do that again.


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## pjk (Aug 26, 2018)

Considering this thread was first created 7 years ago, and a lot of practice has happened, and techniques and hardware have been refined, how has practicing changed from when this was first written? How do the fastest solvers practice now vs. what was written here 7 years ago?


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## AbsoRuud (Aug 27, 2018)

Feliks has been working on his one look method, where he looks at the cube, and it solves itself out of fear. I heard he's down to 1.24 seconds at home.


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## Escher (Aug 27, 2018)

7 years... Wow! It's really heartening for me to see that people still put a 'Like' on this post every now and then, despite so many cubers predominantly using Reddit/YT/Discord nowadays.

Currently I only do a few solves here and there for maintenance. Were I to start practicing properly:


Copying the crap out of the top 10. Practically every solve of theirs in comp is recorded and reconstructed, and that's true even for many of the YT at-home vids.
Heavy use of Anki for learning alg sets, regularly revisiting deck contents and reviewing stats; and 'lookahead quizzes' for LS -> LL transition.
Recording all my solves with a camera, and tagging solves for review (f2l decisions, execution fumbles).
Looking more at your hands than at the cube during slow-solves.
Finally going ahead and doing in-depth research on some of those old pair-selection ideas with a program or two.
Btw, nice work on the site @pjk (& co.?)


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## pjk (Aug 28, 2018)

Escher said:


> 7 years... Wow! It's really heartening for me to see that people still put a 'Like' on this post every now and then, despite so many cubers predominantly using Reddit/YT/Discord nowadays.
> 
> Currently I only do a few solves here and there for maintenance. Were I to start practicing properly:
> 
> ...


The community has become quite divided across Reddit/YT/FB/Discord, but many, including myself, find it quite hard to have long form constructive discussion there, such as this one. It's a difficult nut to crack.

Reconstructions: Good tip and a great way to find new tricks or techniques to solve different positions. 
Anki: I've used Anki extensively for learning languages, and images, but never for learning algs. Can you share some of your decks here? I'd be curious.
Looking for at hands: What are you looking for exactly here?

Great to hear from you again. There isn't a lot of new interesting discussion here these days but would be great to have more of it (but that requires people to participate in interesting discussions  ).

Does anyone know how the fastest solvers these days are practicing? Are there any specific techniques or methods of practice? Would be interested to hear if it has changed much over the last few years.


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## Escher (Aug 28, 2018)

pjk said:


> The community has become quite divided across Reddit/YT/FB/Discord, but many, including myself, find it quite hard to have long form constructive discussion there, such as this one. It's a difficult nut to crack.
> 
> Reconstructions: Good tip and a great way to find new tricks or techniques to solve different positions.
> Anki: I've used Anki extensively for learning languages, and images, but never for learning algs. Can you share some of your decks here? I'd be curious.
> ...



Yeah, it's a real shame to me that 'churn' is built so inseparably into Reddit, it's a black hole for content, at least from an exploration pov... People do need to go back to forums (including myself)! I've been reading something called 'Inadequate Equilibria' that's kinda related.

I don't actually have any Anki decks for alg learning: that's what I would use though. I do have one for the Speffz lettering system but as always I'm way too lazy to learn BLD or review those cards. I'm mainly just using it for Python and CS stuff. On that note, it would be really nice to automatically generate anki cards/whole decks and respective images from an alg list.

Looking at hands: I just mean paying attention to the really little things, like where you actually place your gripping fingers on the cube itself. Like I often have my LH-middle on BL and LH-ring on BD, should I get used to the 'feel' of being directly on the stickers and try to make sure I have that stance all the time?

That particular example might be over-engineering a little bit though... Not that I've ever been criminal of that xD


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## pjk (Aug 29, 2018)

Escher said:


> Yeah, it's a real shame to me that 'churn' is built so inseparably into Reddit, it's a black hole for content, at least from an exploration pov... People do need to go back to forums (including myself)! I've been reading something called 'Inadequate Equilibria' that's kinda related.


I've had this discussion with many people, more so about Facebook. Facebook is a great tool, and FB groups can be very useful. But the problem is that content isn't linked (referencing old conversations), and for super active groups, once a thread is made, it disappears within 1-2 days, rarely to be read again. I'm part of a language learning group where people post great topics and spend a lot of time making great lessons. However, after 2 days they are gone. Then a week later someone asks a question which was answered 100 times already, and no one links and references old threads. I built out a tool that enabled Group admins to port their group over to a self hosted forum such that oldest topics could be linked, searched, and discussed further in long form. This helped solve that problem for that language group. The success of FB groups is due to people already being on there and great activity. A community only works when people participate. If people don't participate, nothing interesting is discussed and therefore people leave. The vibe here on the SS forums has changed as people left since not many good conversations were being had. It's a cycle downward, or upward when people participate. It's a tough problem to solve. I do think there are many people like us that much prefer long form discussion on a forum like this over Reddit/FB, but it's likely not the newest generation.

Inadequate Equilibria looks great, how far into are you? Learn anything interesting yet? I'll add it to my to-read list.



> I don't actually have any Anki decks for alg learning: that's what I would use though. I do have one for the Speffz lettering system but as always I'm way too lazy to learn BLD or review those cards. I'm mainly just using it for Python and CS stuff. On that note, it would be really nice to automatically generate anki cards/whole decks and respective images from an alg list.


Absolutely, I wonder how many people in the community have used or are using Anki. It's a great tool. As a community maybe we can build out decks for different alg sets to help people drill them. That would be super useful for people wanting to learn new algs with the spaced repetition system (which is proven to be incredible effective for long term memory). I'd use an Anki deck for CMLLs right now if I had one. Great idea.



> Looking at hands: I just mean paying attention to the really little things, like where you actually place your gripping fingers on the cube itself. Like I often have my LH-middle on BL and LH-ring on BD, should I get used to the 'feel' of being directly on the stickers and try to make sure I have that stance all the time?
> 
> That particular example might be over-engineering a little bit though... Not that I've ever been criminal of that xD


Haha, great idea. I'm guessing that sort of deliberate practice would make a difference. I'd be curious to hear from others on their strategies, if they use any at all. How do you go from 7 sec avg to 6 sec, for example? I suppose to a certain point, just straight practice will improve your times. Then you'd have to deliberately practice the weakness to break off the plateau.


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## Escher (Sep 4, 2018)

pjk said:


> I've had this discussion with many people, more so about Facebook. Facebook is a great tool, and FB groups can be very useful. But the problem is that content isn't linked (referencing old conversations), and for super active groups, once a thread is made, it disappears within 1-2 days, rarely to be read again. I'm part of a language learning group where people post great topics and spend a lot of time making great lessons. However, after 2 days they are gone. Then a week later someone asks a question which was answered 100 times already, and no one links and references old threads. I built out a tool that enabled Group admins to port their group over to a self hosted forum such that oldest topics could be linked, searched, and discussed further in long form. This helped solve that problem for that language group. The success of FB groups is due to people already being on there and great activity. A community only works when people participate. If people don't participate, nothing interesting is discussed and therefore people leave. The vibe here on the SS forums has changed as people left since not many good conversations were being had. It's a cycle downward, or upward when people participate. It's a tough problem to solve. I do think there are many people like us that much prefer long form discussion on a forum like this over Reddit/FB, but it's likely not the newest generation.
> 
> Inadequate Equilibria looks great, how far into are you? Learn anything interesting yet? I'll add it to my to-read list.
> 
> ...



Yeah, I think it'll take a sea change in the younger generation to revitalise forums for all of us.

I'm about halfway through Inadequate Equilibria. I'm not an economist or an AI researcher but I think the tl;dr is: markets in which every actor has collectively perfect information, but individually imperfect ability to act, will eventually reach a nash equilibrium or 'local maximum', and not necessarily the best one. And it takes complete cooperation to escape it, not necessarily always in the best direction for some actors (or even every actor). Sometimes we can't fix things without completely breaking things first. There's a roughly similar thing in AI where you do what seems in principle to be correct but your model gets stuck and can't 'see' the global maximum. Eliezer is really good at beginning with very precisely and technically stated topics or principles and ending with the big, persistent problems of the human condition!

I'll think more on that Anki topic! Especially making things practically easier. From personal experience it's actually pretty good for quick recall.

I wouldn't know, but I reckon the absolute fastest people have discovered something which works well for them, and sheer repetition alongside the occasional conscious tweaks is enough. I suspect hardware has always been a limiting factor and is more responsible for the biggest changes in times compared to any revelations about the cognitive process. Not to say that good old deliberate practice won't be the most effective way of improving for the rest of us


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## pjk (Sep 6, 2018)

Escher said:


> Yeah, I think it'll take a sea change in the younger generation to revitalise forums for all of us.
> 
> I'm about halfway through Inadequate Equilibria. I'm not an economist or an AI researcher but I think the tl;dr is: markets in which every actor has collectively perfect information, but individually imperfect ability to act, will eventually reach a nash equilibrium or 'local maximum', and not necessarily the best one. And it takes complete cooperation to escape it, not necessarily always in the best direction for some actors (or even every actor). Sometimes we can't fix things without completely breaking things first. There's a roughly similar thing in AI where you do what seems in principle to be correct but your model gets stuck and can't 'see' the global maximum. Eliezer is really good at beginning with very precisely and technically stated topics or principles and ending with the big, persistent problems of the human condition!


I was at the book store a couple weeks back and came across "Oxford Shorts", which are shorter books on various topics which introduce you to a wide variety of topics (there one ones on wars, depressions, psychology, religions, etc.). I figured if I can read one a week or so, I'd get a decent overview of various topics. The first one I started was "Intro to Game Theory". It's funny you mention the above, as they intro Nash Equilibrium and various other intro game theory scenarios, similar to what you described above. As a result, I downloaded the movie "A Beautiful Mind" and have started watching the movie on Nash. Interesting guy. I will have to read the Inadequate Equilibria soon.



> I'll think more on that Anki topic! Especially making things practically easier. From personal experience it's actually pretty good for quick recall.


Indeed. We should start a thread to see if others in the community would like to help build Anki decks. They'd be super useful.



> I wouldn't know, but I reckon the absolute fastest people have discovered something which works well for them, and sheer repetition alongside the occasional conscious tweaks is enough. I suspect hardware has always been a limiting factor and is more responsible for the biggest changes in times compared to any revelations about the cognitive process. Not to say that good old deliberate practice won't be the most effective way of improving for the rest of us


Agreed. I also suspect part of it is a) the more time passing which means more practice, and b) more money/competition these days which means more motivation to improve. Nonetheless, better hardware, better algs/techniques, more time for repetition, etc. has all contributed. I met a younger solver at a competition a couple months back who'd been solving only for 6 months, yet averaged around 11 seconds. 10 years ago that rate of improvement would have been unheard of. I think Macky got sub-20 in less than 1 year and that was remarkable at the time.


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## Jude (Sep 27, 2018)

good message thanks this will help me practise doing the solve thing with the rubix cube i think i will get better i want to be as fast as u guys one day hopefully thanks


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## Davsalooki (Jan 25, 2019)

Get a good cube, slowly work your way up. Do blindfolded cross (you can do 1-4 edges, depending on what you CAN do), and f2l pairs. You should start learning full PLL and use 2-look OLL.


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## Hazel (Jan 25, 2019)

Davsalooki said:


> Get a good cube, slowly work your way up. Do blindfolded cross (you can do 1-4 edges, depending on what you CAN do), and f2l pairs. You should start learning full PLL and use 2-look OLL.


note: good cube does not mean an expert-level one, at your speed a budget cube will be perfectly fine. However, if you have the money to spend and you want the best on the market, feel free to buy a GTS3 M or a GAN356 X, but don't expect the expert cubes to drastically decrease your times from a budget cube like a Yuxin Little Magic or an MF3RS2.


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## goidlon (Jan 25, 2019)

RamenNoodles said:


> Practice. But also what method do u use?


I use begginers


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## Davsalooki (Jan 25, 2019)

goidlon said:


> I use begginers


When you average around 1-min or less, use CFOP. Practice F2L and cross, and use 4 look layer for now.


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## RamenNoodles (Jan 25, 2019)

I recommend after you get sub 45 seconds with beginners transfer to CFOP or ROUX.(I use CFOP). My main is the Cubicle Labs yuxin little magic m (because im on a budget). I would recommend the Cubicle labs mf3rs2 m


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## goidlon (Jan 26, 2019)

RamenNoodles said:


> I recommend after you get sub 45 seconds with beginners transfer to CFOP or ROUX.(I use CFOP). My main is the Cubicle Labs yuxin little magic m (because im on a budget). I would recommend the Cubicle labs mf3rs2 m


What f2l whould you reccomend Beggners?


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## RamenNoodles (Jan 26, 2019)

Link:



this is where i learned it from


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## goidlon (Jan 26, 2019)

Thanks That was really helpful. and simp,le to learn

I have a comp coming up the northeast championships. really helpful


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## Parzival1888 (Jun 16, 2019)

Hey all,
what methods did you all use to improve?

I've been stuck at around 50 seconds per solve for around a month now
any tips would be great!


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## MSM2002. (Jun 16, 2019)

What method are you currently using?

Is the cube you use preventing you from getting faster?

When I was at around 1 minute, I switched from beginner's method to F2L. I also had a very bad cube: a GuanLong with dried dish soap, which made it very sticky. I had a large time drop when I changed to a different cube.

Check out this guide: https://www.speedsolving.com/threads/how-to-get-faster-using-the-fridrich-cfop-method.6085/


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## u Cube (Jun 16, 2019)

Parzival1888 said:


> Hey all,
> what methods did you all use to improve?
> 
> I've been stuck at around 50 seconds per solve for around a month now
> any tips would be great!


switch to roux and watch some kian mansour example solves! My pb single is 9.17 and pb ao5 is 11.17


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## JMFT100 (Jun 20, 2019)

I really need some help to lower my 3x3 Times,I average around 13 seconds,and I have a Valk 3 Power M ,what can I do to be sub-11?


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## OreKehStrah (Jun 20, 2019)

The biggest thing is improving look ahead and using your inspection better. Make sure you practice doing the cross and track your first F2L pair if you’re using CFOP. Another thing that will help is to do practice sessions with your PLL/OLL and see which Algs are slower than your others and drill them or find new ones to improve your consistency


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## Tabe (Jun 20, 2019)

JMFT100 said:


> I really need some help to lower my 3x3 Times,I average around 13 seconds,and I have a Valk 3 Power M ,what can I do to be sub-11?


Post some solve videos so people can give specific advice.


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## AbsoRuud (Jun 20, 2019)

If you want to turn faster you can do one or two of the following:
Use less moves.
Turn faster.

I recommend focusing strongly on the first one. Figure out efficient ways to solve each F2L pair, look up algs for the cases where you aren't efficient. And then drill, drill, drill, until you can do every case blindfolded, asleep, and super fast.


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## Frenetic Zetetic (Jul 14, 2019)

This is exactly what I needed to find, and consequently read. I’ve been messing with cubes for years but only recently “got serious” with solving them. The shift came after my mindset switched and I started looking at solving the cube as a series of steps practiced, reasoned, and thus actually understood - versus random spinning or impossible to understand algorithms. My time for solving in the fastest it has ever been in my life, and this resource is only improving upon that! Thank you!


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## PrinceCubing (Aug 21, 2019)

I’m new to speedcubing and started learning CFOP. The cross and F2L are not difficult to grasp because of how intuitive they are, however, I have trouble learning the algorithms for OLL and PLL. I find it difficult to practice with these because unlike the cross and F2L, once you do one part of OLL, you have to move on straight to PLL. Any suggestions for how to more efficiently practice OLL and PLL separately?


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## GAN 356 X (Aug 21, 2019)

PrinceCubing said:


> I’m new to speedcubing and started learning CFOP. The cross and F2L are not difficult to grasp because of how intuitive they are, however, I have trouble learning the algorithms for OLL and PLL. I find it difficult to practice with these because unlike the cross and F2L, once you do one part of OLL, you have to move on straight to PLL. Any suggestions for how to more efficiently practice OLL and PLL separately?


Whenever I learn a new algorithm, I will drill it continuously until I have it. with some algorithms I will get confused with because they are so similar, so I will have to relearn it and practice it just as much of the new algorithm


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## Prahaas123 (Oct 15, 2019)

Thanks for this. It was very detailed and precise.


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## MJS Cubing (Jan 6, 2021)

Sorry for the bump, but my entire life changed. I watched this video from LaZer0MonKey, and now I use a metronome to practice. When learning algs, you just do one turn per beat, and slowly increase the speed before you are full speed. I find this really useful.


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## DNF_Cuber (Jan 6, 2021)

MJS Cubing said:


> Sorry for the bump, but my entire life changed. I watched this video from LaZer0MonKey, and now I use a metronome to practice. When learning algs, you just do one turn per beat, and slowly increase the speed before you are full speed. I find this really useful.


@ottozing (Sorry I had to do it)








Why you struggle with “Look Ahead” — Jayden McNeill Speedcubing Blog


Look ahead is one of those topics often talked about by YouCubers of various skill levels, usually with a lot of emphasis on the fact that "look-ahead is a mindset broo, you gotta…




www.jaydenmcneillcubing.com


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## stoic (Apr 12, 2021)

stoic said:


> Great post. Should definitely be a sticky











The Ultimate Deliberate Practice Guide: How to Be the Best - Farnam Street


Deliberate practice is the key to expert performance in writing, teaching, sports, programming, music, medicine, therapy, chess, business, and more. But there’s more to it than 10,000 hours. Read to learn how to accelerate learning, overcome plateaus, turn experience into expertise, and enhance...




fs.blog





So, this is the best thing I've read since I repped @Escher over ten years ago for starting this thread...


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## abunickabhi (Apr 14, 2021)

stoic said:


> The Ultimate Deliberate Practice Guide: How to Be the Best - Farnam Street
> 
> 
> Deliberate practice is the key to expert performance in writing, teaching, sports, programming, music, medicine, therapy, chess, business, and more. But there’s more to it than 10,000 hours. Read to learn how to accelerate learning, overcome plateaus, turn experience into expertise, and enhance...
> ...


Amazing read. Worth the every 38 minutes of my time. The post summarises the pros of deliberate practice quite nicely. I had only seen Noah Arthur's video on this topic and then some discussions here and there in the community. It feels good to read a comprehensive post about this practice technique.


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## Flowkap (Dec 7, 2021)

Probably just solving a lot is the best bet.


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## Wertm (Dec 25, 2021)

Hello fellow speed cubers, I have a question...how can you become a faster solver? Currently I average under 45 seconds, but I see that my averages are sometimes inconsistent, so I guess I really have two questions: How to get faster and how to have consistent solve times. Any and all tips are greatly appreciated.


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## ruffleduck (Dec 25, 2021)

jedi066DPS1 said:


> Hello fellow speed cubers, I have a question...how can you become a faster solver? Currently I average under 45 seconds, but I see that my averages are sometimes inconsistent, so I guess I really have two questions: How to get faster and how to have consistent solve times. Any and all tips are greatly appreciated.


Practice.

(Broad unspecific questions ask for broad unspecific answers.)


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## Llewelys (Dec 27, 2021)

jedi066DPS1 said:


> Hello fellow speed cubers, I have a question...how can you become a faster solver? Currently I average under 45 seconds, but I see that my averages are sometimes inconsistent, so I guess I really have two questions: How to get faster and how to have consistent solve times. Any and all tips are greatly appreciated.


I don't know which method you use, but watching example solves videos always helps.
Good luck!
(and also yes, lots of practice)


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## Thibster99 (Dec 27, 2021)

Escher said:


> I've been wanting to make this thread for a while since it's something that plenty of people don't really seem to 'get'.
> 
> Although I'll mostly be using 3x3 and CFOP as my basis for examples, I'll try to keep each rule or guide as generalisable as possible to other methods and puzzles.
> 
> ...


Wow. That was an awesome read/thread!


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## AliceRobin (Jan 21, 2022)

That's an amazing thread. My cube was just lying for months in a corner. Finally it came to use. Thanks to you.


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