# Learning Full ZBLL - My Journey



## KenBrace (Nov 22, 2015)

Folks, I have decided to embark on possibly the most difficult speed cubing accomplishment out there. 

I'm going to learn full ZBLL.

My goal is to learn at least one algorithm per day on average.

At this rate it'll take me 1 - 2 years to learn the whole bit. 

I've got 493 algorithms to learn so it'll definitely take a while.

To help boost my motivation I've decided to post a thread here logging my progress. 

I'm not sure how it'll all work out but I am determined to stick with it until the end.

So without further ado, let the journey begin!


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## biscuit (Nov 22, 2015)

You can do it!... After a while. Good luck!


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## KenBrace (Nov 22, 2015)

*Day 1*

#1 - *ZBLL-T [No PLL]* - (y') R' U' R U' R' U2 R L U L' U L U2 L'
#2 - *ZBLL-U [No PLL]* - (y) R2 U F U' F2 D R2 D' R2 F U' R2
#3 - *ZBLL-L [No PLL]* - R U2 R' L' U' L U' R U' R' L' U2 L

*TOTAL:* 3

*NOTES:* All 3 are decent algorithms. The second one feels a little awkward but it's not too bad.


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## 4Chan (Nov 22, 2015)

1 per day is a sub-optimal approach.

I think you need to cram them into your head faster than you can forget them.
After talking with a few people, learning whole batches and subsets at the same time seems to work well.

Good luck.


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## Jaysammey777 (Nov 22, 2015)

4Chan said:


> 1 per day is a sub-optimal approach.
> 
> I think you need to cram them into your head faster than you can forget them.
> After talking with a few people, learning whole batches and subsets at the same time seems to work well.
> ...



IMO this is true with no matter what you learn, but only for certain people. Ie if I have a vocab quiz on Tuesday with 40 words and i study only 20 mins before then I can make about a 80 switching up words, if I only study the Night before and don't look again I will get about 80 forgetting the other words, if I study a few days before and don't look I get about a 60 not even know the other words, and if I study a few days before and look back over 2-3 times then I make 95-100 and getting close with the others. Keep in mind his is only 30-40 words and I did these quizzes for a foreign language every week this semester, and this is just what I noticed. Then again this is just how I work, it's diffrent for everyone thou!


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## OLLiver (Nov 22, 2015)

as someone who learnt his 200th ZBLL yesterday, I would recommend doing 1-2 per day as a minimum, like somedays I can just do 6 no problem, other days, also remember to practice the ones you already know using QQ timer ZBLL scrambles.

Also this doesn't require its own thread, maybe post in the Race to full ZBLL thread instead? Or you could use the accomplishment thread for its original purpose


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## KenBrace (Nov 23, 2015)

4Chan said:


> 1 per day is a sub-optimal approach.
> 
> I think you need to cram them into your head faster than you can forget them.
> After talking with a few people, learning whole batches and subsets at the same time seems to work well.
> ...



To be honest this is basically what I'm doing. Learn 5 - 10 in two or three days then cement them in my mind for the rest of the week. But all in all it works out to an average of roughly one per day. Also, I want my goal to give leeway for ZBLL vacations. I think aiming for more than that would be jumping the gun. Set a realistic goal. If it gets easier then so be it. But best not to over estimate yourself. Sometimes you can get on a role and learn five or six algs in a day. Seems great but you can't realistically keep that up unless you completely devote your life to speed cubing. Some days I might be really busy with something and don't feel like learning algs. Or I might just feel like doing some solves. You also need time to cement the ones you've learned into your mind. I think one per day (i.e. it'll take roughly 500 days to learn everything) is both ambitious and realistic.



OLLiver said:


> as someone who learnt his 200th ZBLL yesterday, I would recommend doing 1-2 per day as a minimum, like somedays I can just do 6 no problem, other days, *also remember to practice the ones you already know using QQ timer ZBLL scrambles*.



Congrats! 200 is great.

Thanks for the tip! Didn't know that about qqTimer. That'll definitely come in handy.



4Chan said:


> Also this doesn't require its own thread, maybe post in the Race to full ZBLL thread instead? Or you could use the accomplishment thread for its original purpose



Creating my own thread feels more motivating.



OLLiver said:


> also remember to practice the ones you already know using QQ timer ZBLL scrambles.



Searching around and don't see a feature for this. 

How is it done exactly?


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## 4Chan (Nov 23, 2015)

KenBrace said:


> To be honest this is basically what I'm doing. Learn 5 - 10 in two or three days then cement them in my mind for the rest of the week. But all in all it works out to an average of roughly one per day. Also, I want my goal to give leeway for ZBLL vacations. I think aiming for more than that would be jumping the gun. Set a realistic goal. If it gets easier then so be it. But best not to over estimate yourself. Sometimes you can get on a role and learn five or six algs in a day. Seems great but you can't realistically keep that up unless you completely devote your life to speed cubing.



Throughout the years, I've noticed that's the type of thinking that leads to failure when it comes to ZBLL.

Don't underestimate yourself, because when you set limits like that, you're just hindering yourself.
Think of it this way:

Option 1: Underestimate self = slower progress.
Option 2: Overestimate self = surprise yourself with how good you are.

Only by overestimating yourself will you find your limits. (Which don't exist, there are no limits)
Seriously believe me, it's humanly possible to learn in a month, you just have to exert yourself past your comfort zone.


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## KenBrace (Nov 23, 2015)

4Chan said:


> Throughout the years, I've noticed that's the type of thinking that leads to failure when it comes to ZBLL.
> 
> Don't underestimate yourself, because when you set limits like that, you're just hindering yourself.
> Think of it this way:
> ...



The goal is more or less a minimum limit. If I _can_ indeed learn it faster then that will happen naturally. But the bottom line is that I'm going to force a minimum learning rate of one per day.


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## joshsailscga (Nov 23, 2015)

KenBrace said:


> Searching around and don't see a feature for this.
> 
> How is it done exactly?



SPECIALTY SCRAMBLES -> 3x3 Subsets -> ZBLL


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## KenBrace (Nov 23, 2015)

joshsailscga said:


> SPECIALTY SCRAMBLES -> 3x3 Subsets -> ZBLL



Awesome, thanks!


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## Berd (Nov 23, 2015)

Good luck, I leant the sune CLL set in 20 mins yesterday; it felt awesome!


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## KenBrace (Nov 25, 2015)

*Day 2*

*TOTAL:* 3

*NOTES:* Was busy all day and didn't have time for cubing. Nothing new learned.


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## KenBrace (Nov 25, 2015)

*Day 3*

*TOTAL:* 3

*NOTES:* Still super busy. Didn't learn any new algs.


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## Jaysammey777 (Nov 25, 2015)

The way this thread is set up, it might be better to be a race to full zbll forum competition. Just saying seems like a spam a day that we could go without especially with post of doing nothing.


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## KenBrace (Nov 25, 2015)

Jaysammey777 said:


> The way this thread is set up, it might be better to be a race to full zbll forum competition. Just saying seems like a spam a day that we could go without especially with post of doing nothing.



Perhaps you have a point with the empty days. Might be better to only post days containing progress. Or maybe I should do weekly updates. That would be easier anyway. Yeah I thing I'll do that. This daily stuff is going to get tiresome.


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## Kudz (Nov 26, 2015)

Don't limit yourself to ZBLL, go for 1LLL 
Good luck!


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## KenBrace (Nov 26, 2015)

Jaysammey777 said:


> The way this thread is set up, it might be better to be a race to full zbll forum competition. Just saying seems like a spam a day that we could go without especially with post of doing nothing.



Hey, I just noticed the link to your chess.com account. Awesome! I'm a chess fanatic!

We should play sometime.


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## Jaysammey777 (Nov 27, 2015)

KenBrace said:


> Hey, I just noticed the link to your chess.com account. Awesome! I'm a chess fanatic!
> 
> We should play sometime.



Lol I see the friend request, I like never play! Ahha


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## 4Chan (Nov 27, 2015)

Ken, based on your post history, you're in Georgia?

Which part of Georgia? 
I also live there and if you'd like, I can give you tons of ZBLL help in person.


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## KenBrace (Nov 27, 2015)

4Chan said:


> Ken, based on your post history, you're in Georgia?
> 
> Which part of Georgia?
> I also live there and if you'd like, I can give you tons of ZBLL help in person.



I live about 2.5 hours below Atlanta. 

That would awesome! We probably live several hours a part though.


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## 4Chan (Nov 27, 2015)

Whoaaaaaaaaaaa, that's pretty far. Yep we live about two hours apart.

However, if you come to one of the Georgia competitions I can give you tons of tricks!


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## KenBrace (Nov 27, 2015)

4Chan said:


> Whoaaaaaaaaaaa, that's pretty far. Yep we live about two hours apart.
> 
> However, if you come to one of the Georgia competitions I can give you tons of tricks!



I'll have to keep a lookout for competitions in GA. There don't seem to be many. Wasn't the last one like several years ago in Marietta or has there been a more recent one (I've been absent from the cubing community for a while)?


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## 4Chan (Nov 27, 2015)

Lol, Georgia had 4 comps this year? 5?

There are already 4 planned for next year, 2 of which are already official and announced.


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## KenBrace (Nov 27, 2015)

4Chan said:


> Ken, based on your post history, you're in Georgia?
> 
> Which part of Georgia?
> I also live there and if you'd like, I can give you tons of ZBLL help in person.



Do you know full ZBLL?



4Chan said:


> Lol, Georgia had 4 comps this year? 5?
> 
> There are already 4 planned for next year, 2 of which are already official and announced.



Wow! That's awesome! Things have definitely improved since I was last active. I actually tried to organize a cubing comp here in GA back a couple years ago but it didn't work out. My previous username is @UltimateCuber.

But yeah I'll definitely have to plan a trip to at least one of those competitions. It would be my first time actually.


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## 4Chan (Nov 27, 2015)

KenBrace said:


> Do you know full ZBLL?



Like, 98.9% of it, since there's 3-4 cases I don't like.


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## KenBrace (Nov 27, 2015)

4Chan said:


> Like, 98.9% of it, since there's 3-4 cases I don't like.



That's amazing!

How long did it take to learn them all?


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## 4Chan (Nov 27, 2015)

In 2009, it took 8 months.

In 2015, it took 1 month.

The first time I learned it was mostly move-optimal algs.
The second time was with better algs.

The reason it was faster the second time around was because I knew tricks and had a good system.
Even though I didn't know the algs anymore, I knew what I had to learn, in which order, etc.


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## KenBrace (Nov 27, 2015)

4Chan said:


> In 2009, it took 8 months.
> 
> In 2015, it took 1 month.
> 
> ...



Well that's encouraging. So far I've been learning about 2 - 3 per day and have only been spending 30 minutes to an hour every other day. If I can avoid skipping days and spend ~2 hours then I could average about 5 per day. At that rate it would take about 7 months. Of course I'll need time off every now and then to review algs and whatnot so maybe around 8 months.


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## KenBrace (Dec 12, 2015)

*Week 1*
_11/22 - 11/28_


*Day 4*

#4 - *ZBLL-H [No PLL]* - (y) R U R2 U' R2 U' R U2 R U2 R U' R2 U' R2 U R
#5 - *ZBLL-Pi [No PLL]* - R U R2 U' R2 U' R2 U2 R2 U' R' U R U2 R'
#6 - *ZBLL-Sune [No PLL]* - R' U R2 U R' U R U2 R U2 R U R' U R2

*TOTAL:* 6

*NOTES:* I don't particularly care for the H alg. The other two are fine.


*Day 5*

*TOTAL:* 6

*NOTES:* Nothing new today.


*Day 6*

#7 - *ZBLL-AntiSune [No PLL]* - (y2) R U' R2 U' R U' R' U2 R' U2 R' U' R U' R2

*TOTAL:* 7

*NOTES:* Decent alg.


*Day 7*

#8 - *ZBLL-T [U:Front]* - (y) L' U' L2 U L2 U L2 U2 L' U L' U L
#9 - *ZBLL-T [U:Back]* - (y') R U R' U R U2 R' U' R U2 R' U' R U' R'
#10 - *ZBLL-T [U:Left]* - (y2) R U' R2 U' R U' R' U2 R' U2 R' U' R U' R2
#11 - *ZBLL-T [U:Right]* - L' U L' U2 L' U2 L U' L' U' L U L U' L
#12 - *ZBLL-T [U':Front]* - (y') R U R2 U' R2 U' R2 U2 R U' R U' R'
#13 - *ZBLL-T [U':Back]* - (y') R' U' R U' R' U2 R U R' U2 R U R' U R
#14 - *ZBLL-T [U':Left]* - L' U2 L U L' U L U' L' U' L U' L' U2 L
#15 - *ZBLL-T [U':Right]* - R U' R U2 R U2 R' U R U R' U' R' U R'

*TOTAL:* 15

*NOTES:* I liked all 8 of these algorithms.


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## KenBrace (Dec 12, 2015)

*Week 2*
_11/29 - 12/5_


*Day 8*

*TOTAL:* 15


*Day 9*

*TOTAL:* 15


*Day 10*

*TOTAL:* 15


*Day 11*

#16 - *ZBLL-T [H]* - R U2 R2 U R' U R' U R' U R U2 R2 U' R2
#17 - *ZBLL-T [Z]* - R U2 R' U' R U' R2 U2 R U R' U R
#18 - *ZBLL-T [Z']* - L' U2 L U L' U L2 U2 L' U' L U' L'

*TOTAL:* 18

*NOTES:* Was traveling in the car all day. Spent most of that time reviewing previously learn algorithms but I did manage to slip these 3 new ones in as well.


*Day 12*

*TOTAL:* 18


*Day 13*

*TOTAL:* 18


*Day 14*

*TOTAL:* 18


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## KenBrace (Dec 12, 2015)

*Week 3*
_12/6 - 12/12_


*Day 15*

*TOTAL:* 18


*Day 16*

*TOTAL:* 18


*Day 17*

*TOTAL:* 18


*Day 18*

#19 - *ZBLL-T [A:Front]* - (y') l U2 R D2 R' U2 R D2 R2
#20 - *ZBLL-T [A:Back]* - R' U R U F' R' U u' R U R' u R U2 F
#21 - *ZBLL-T [A:Left]* - (y) l' U' L U l F' L' F
#22 - *ZBLL-T [A:Right]* - (y') R' U2 R U2 R' U R U' L U' R' U L' U R

*TOTAL:* 22

*NOTES:* Alg #21 is the standard OLL that I use for the OLL-T case. So the algorithm itself was nothing new. I just had to learn the ZBLL recognition for it.


*Day 19*

#23 - *ZBLL-T [A':Front]* - L U' L' U' F L U' u L' U' L u' L' U2 F'
#24 - *ZBLL-T [A':Back]* - (y') l' U2 R' D2 R U2 R' D2 R2
#25 - *ZBLL-T [A':Left]* - (y') r U R' U' r' F R F'
#26 - *ZBLL-T [A':Right]* - (y) L U2 L' U2 L U' L' U R' U L U' R U' L'

*TOTAL:* 26

*NOTES:* All 4 algs are mirrors of the previous 4 that I learned yesterday.


*Day 20*

*TOTAL:* 26


*Day 21*

#27 - *ZBLL-T [A':Front]* - R U R U' R2 U' D R' U2 R U2 D' R
#28 - *ZBLL-T [A':Back]* - L' U' L' U L2 U D' L U2 L' U2 D L'
#29 - *ZBLL-T [A':Left]* - (y2) r U' r U2 R' F R U2 r2 F
#30 - *ZBLL-T [A':Right]* - (y2) F R U R' U' R U' R' U' R U R' F'

*TOTAL:* 30

*NOTES:* A few of the algs feel slightly awkward but I'm sure I'll get used to them. It's great to have a short 8-move algorithm at least.


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