# Bad Cubing Habits?



## xavier45 (Oct 1, 2011)

Hello, I wanted to know your bad cubing habits, for example if I am timing my self I will sometimes look at the timer and mess up my algorithm. Hope to see some very crazy responses from the community.


-xavier


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## (R) (Oct 1, 2011)

cube rotations during F2L.


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## emolover (Oct 1, 2011)

(R) said:


> cube rotations during F2L.


 
This is the response that a majority of CFOP users will say. 

I also take too long to recognize PLL's.


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## Zane_C (Oct 1, 2011)

This is a habit, I definitely don't see it as being a bad habit though:
Before I start inspection I always tap the stackmat with both my hands, do avoid it turning off just as I'm about to start.


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## James Cavanauh (Oct 1, 2011)

I do this weird thing, get ready, it's pretty crazy. I don't know if you've heard of it, it's called popping. But, jokes aside, my last layer takes a crazily long time and I always procrastinate learning olls.


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## masteranders1 (Oct 1, 2011)

Definitely looking at the timer while you're doing a solve. Always messes me up.


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## Thompson (Oct 1, 2011)

Looking at timer doing solves.
Getting lazy and not marking plus 2 solves as such


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## teller (Oct 1, 2011)

Picking white as my cross.


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## Tim Major (Oct 1, 2011)

Related to Zane's, I always reset the timer even when it is at 0


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## ~Phoenix Death~ (Oct 1, 2011)

Doing H-Perms and Sexy Moves randomly...


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## Riley (Oct 1, 2011)

If I get a +2/DNF in qqTimer, I won't change it.

Uh, U3 and U4's, even though it's getting less and less.


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## goflb (Oct 1, 2011)

scrambling immediately after solving it. i do that sometimes. probably not going to work during a comp.


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## hcfong (Oct 1, 2011)

Not looking ahead for next F2L pair.
Full wrist turns (sorry, I just can't do fingertricks)
Not using the full 15 seconds inspection time to work out the cross


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## Ranzha (Oct 1, 2011)

Improvising.


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## 5BLD (Oct 1, 2011)

If I get one bad solve, I redo the whole average.
I stopped doing that yesterday though, and funnily enough I seem to get better averages this way.

In CMLL I ALWAYS use my left hand to AUF. Yes, this means U', U' U', U' U' U' and U' U' U' U' as I can't double flick.

In inspection I tend to use either like 2 seconds, or 14 seconds. Both aren't good ideas...

I overuse weird moves like S or Fw. They are efficient sometimes but not fast... Again I started avoiding this yesterday.


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## Andreaillest (Oct 1, 2011)

Looking at timer during solve and inserting things in wrong places. I can also get clumsy, especially on fast solves. I get excited and totally ruin any potential PB.


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## CRO (Oct 1, 2011)

Definitely looking at the timer as I solve. And terribly slow LL.


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## chrissyD (Oct 1, 2011)

if i get a good time but it turns out I've done the wrong pll then I just leave it when it should be a Dnf


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## Eleredo (Oct 1, 2011)

Ouch, unfortunately I have a lot of them.

I...
* make my cross on the top
* do not properly use my inspection time and just start cubing right away which results in me having to look how to build the cross wasting valuable solving time in the process
* am not color neutral (well, I can solve the cube color neutral but way slower than when I pick white as my cross, the color I'm used to)
* move way too fast which results in bad look-ahead and lots of pauses
* do tons of cube rotations to make and insert F2L pairs
* do tons of U3's (or sometimes even U5's!) when looking for an F2L pair instead of rotating the cube
* have this weird way of doing D turns because I can't do the D fingertrick


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## adragast (Oct 1, 2011)

I unfortunately have most of the bad habits mentioned:
- resetting the timer even if it is 0
- starting the solve before the 15s even though I am not ready planing the cross
- having planned the cross during inspection but going for another way to solve it when I start the solve
- rotating the cube during F2L a lot
- going too fast in the F2L for my look-ahead and then blame something else for my bad times (the cube, the light, bad luck, bad days...)
- using U a lot of times for PLL recognition, or just decide with feeling (hmmm this has to be a G perm... oh no, it wasn't....)
- using U a lot of times after my PLL (U' will be executed as U3, if the cube is solve I may do a UU' or do U and get a +2)


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## hic0057 (Oct 1, 2011)

-rescrambling when there is a bad cross
-turning too fast for my look ahead in f2l
-looking at the timer. I usually do this during pll or on big cubes


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## RTh (Oct 1, 2011)

Same as Tim. I reset the timer before scrambling, then again after and sometimes once again after inspection.


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## Ezy Ryder (Oct 1, 2011)

1.:Sub-5 inspection (on average).
2.:Not planning full cross. It makes me look for the last cross piece instead of the first F2L pair.
3.:3-5 regrips during the solve (before LL).
4.:I don't know if it's bad, but I don't use corner nor edge bias. I look for both slot pieces at a time. At least I think so.
5.:Recognizing PLL by 3 sides. (At least not 4).
6.:Forgetting what AUF I'll have, doing the wrong one and getting +2.
7.:Forgetting to turn fast after the cross.
8.oing parity on 6x6 at the wrong side. (One axis is still not modded).

That's quite a lot of things. I've got to work on it, not just solve over and over again for hours.


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## The Bloody Talon (Oct 1, 2011)

chatting while in a cubing session. Always results a bad average.


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## chris w (Oct 1, 2011)

- using no more than 5secs inspection time
- not fully planning cross
- not practicing oll's/pll's


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## mycube (Oct 1, 2011)

looking on the timer while cubing is bad!
do not use more than 3-4 secounds of the inspection time just to see the cross. 
cross on the upper layer and not down. 
should learn MGLS full or not :/


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## pi.cubed (Oct 1, 2011)

I have a really annoying habit of starting the solve without working out the cross. I just see the pieces and think "yay ok I know how to do it" and then start. And then I fail. It's even more annoying because it would be so easy to fix, but for some unknown reason I just can't be bothered. *:|*


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## Kirjava (Oct 1, 2011)

M3'


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## Dacuba (Oct 1, 2011)

Not enough Inspection
Rotations (going to be worked on soon)
I sometimes forget which was my starting face on the 2x2x2 (ortega)
Daydreaming during solves
Looking at pairs I'm solving right now
Looking on tmer during solves

Oh and being horrible slow at F2L

At least I do cross on bottom and have a reasonable fast LL


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## xavier45 (Oct 1, 2011)

(R) said:


> cube rotations during F2L.



I somtimes forget which slot to put the pair in. Which results in a lot of worthless U moves.


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## antoineccantin (Oct 1, 2011)

Thompson said:


> Looking at timer doing solves.
> Getting lazy and not marking plus 2 solves as such


 
Same as Thompson.

Also, not learning full OLL...


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## Rook (Oct 1, 2011)

Starting solve only after finding my 1x2x2 without tracing the last 2 pieces.
F2L'ing my second block.
Leaving algorithm sets half-learnt.


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## asportking (Oct 1, 2011)

Not making best decisions on what side to start the cross on. I'm opposite color neutral, but instead of just picking the easiest side, I feel like I have to "balance" out the white and yellow crosses. So if I solve the cross on white one time, even if there's a really easy white cross the next time, I end up doing yellow to balance it out.


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## a small kitten (Oct 1, 2011)

When I get lazy (not wanting to find intelligent blockbuilding solutions), I tend to rely on my turning speed. Then my move count goes up and I get tired.


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## somerandomkidmike (Oct 1, 2011)

Because I don't know how to recognize half the cases for CLL, I sometimes spend as much as 2 seconds just recognizing the case for CLL. That's bad considering I use Waterman.


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## cuberkid10 (Oct 1, 2011)

After I scramble, I tap the cube on the table before I start inspection. It's not really a 'bad' habit, but it's kind of annoying for me.

I also do cross on top, which is my worst habit. I lose the lookahead for F2L, and have to rely on seeing something as soon as I do X2.


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## 5BLD (Oct 1, 2011)

At least it's not as bad as me; I start inspecting immediately after scrambling...


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## uberCuber (Oct 1, 2011)

-For 3x3, using roughly 3 seconds of inspection on average 
-Doing stupidly large movecount things sometimes, particularly during centers of bigcubes. (I average ~80 moves for centers on 5x5)
-Saying I'm going to learn something and not doing it:
....I still don't know Antisune COLL cases even though I started learning COLL long before I even knew full OLL
....I still haven't learned the rest of the L2E cases for 5x5 even though I said I was going to before I got sub-2 (I now average around 1:30....)
....I actually did learn all of EG-1, but never really started using it, and I now know very few of them and just use pure CLL for 2x2 solving.
....There's more that I don't feel like listing.


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## ben1996123 (Oct 1, 2011)

Not learning OLL. I've known full PLL for 3 years and still don't know full OLL.


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## buelercuber (Oct 1, 2011)

I'd say doing a U3 for AUF is a pretty bad habit....


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## CuberMan (Oct 1, 2011)

my bad habits:
- Same as Tim and Rth. I reset the timer before scrambling, then again after and sometimes once again after inspection.
- to AUF I do U'3 instead of U
- always try to turn very fast, resulting in bad looahead and wrong PLL execution
- lazy to learn new methods and algorithms


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## jrb (Oct 1, 2011)

Looking at the timer during my solve
Watching the timer during my whole PLL
Terrible transition from cross to F2L 50% of the time


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## Speedmaster (Oct 1, 2011)

I cannotbmake the cross in the bottom, and i always use the white cross..


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## DaveyCow (Oct 1, 2011)

Zane_C said:


> This is a habit, I definitely don't see it as being a bad habit though:
> Before I start inspection I always tap the stackmat with both my hands, do avoid it turning off just as I'm about to start.



When I use PPT, I click the mouse on the timer to make sure it's the active window before I hit the spacebar  Kinda silly really since I had *just* hit the spacebar to stop the timer...


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## aaronb (Oct 1, 2011)

If I'm having a really good or really bad time, I stop the timer 1 or 2 moves before the cube is solved and don't mark as +2 or DNF. (Really need to stop this.)

Also I do cross on left; used to be on top, but I just couldn't fully switch to cross on D.


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## Rpotts (Oct 1, 2011)

^^Cross on left is not a bad habit

poorly recognizing a few particular OLLs resulting in U2, recognize, U2 execute.

Forcing diag PLLs from OLLs I know enough OLLCP for to avoid diagonal.

Freefoping solves just because there is a pair made, without inspecting long enough to find a suitable Xcross

Guessing what the stickers on the B face are during f2l, sometimes works excellently, not always though 

Stopping time in the middle of a U2 AUF, sometimes during the seconds U', sometimes before. 

Being lenient with +2's, though I've started DNFing appropriately.

Looking at the times I'm about to roll, putting way to much pressure on me and ultimately Jesusin' my average.

Not practicing events other than 3x3, even though I could stand to practice 2x2, 4x4, BLD, OH etc.

Going with longer crosses that are easy to spot, rather than spending more time finding a more move optimal one.

I could go on, I have tons of bad habits.


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## scotzbhoy (Oct 1, 2011)

My AUF recognition is really slow. I also tend to not make the most of inspection to fully plan out the cross, but that's happening less and less frequently now.


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## Yuxuibbs (Oct 1, 2011)

i do easy cross scrambles, bad recognition during F2L and PLL, I look at the timer after F2L, only practicing 3x3, stopping timer while doing U'/U2 with left hand, tons of cube rotations, the list is pretty long....


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## waffle=ijm (Oct 1, 2011)

When you stop the timer and you look at your times.


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## luke1984 (Oct 1, 2011)

No lookahead during cross stage.
Too many cube turns.
Slow PLL recognition.
AUF + cube turn before doing PLL.
I get way too frustrated when I get a bad time. 
Timed solves make me way too nervous.

The last one is very problematic. When a friend times me without my knowledge, I'm about 2-3 seconds faster than when I time myself.


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## cubersmith (Oct 1, 2011)

I have ALOT. Can't think of any off the top of my head.


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## xabu1 (Oct 3, 2011)

panicking when I hear the 8 seconds from the judges at competitions
I only started hearing this at the last competition, I ended up screwing up when I panicked, I never got a good inspection and screwed up my first block, hence the 28 average


also looking at the timer


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## iEnjoyCubing (Oct 3, 2011)

-Looking at the timer while I'm solving
-Not putting in +2/DNF in qqTimer during practice even if the solve ends up being one of those
-Not using full inspection during comps
-Cube rotations during F2L
-General nervousness when I'm not solving at home (school, comps, etc)


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## Phlippieskezer (Oct 3, 2011)

xabu1 said:


> panicking when I hear the 8 seconds from the judges at competitions
> I only started hearing this at the last competition, I ended up screwing up when I panicked, I never got a good inspection and screwed up my first block, hence the 28 average
> 
> 
> also looking at the timer


 
In competition, exactly this. I messed up at my last competition because I was too hasty. 

I pause too much and move my hands in-and-out of my line of sight, usually to see BD. >.>
(I only noticed this once I recorded a few solves, though)


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## fastcubesolver (Oct 3, 2011)

looking at the timer, i do it, i hate it lol


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## Florian (Oct 3, 2011)

Doing the first pair i see and not looking for 3-Move situations


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## bwronski (Oct 3, 2011)

f2l on top kind of. 
Bad transition to f2l
not efficient f2l, just bursts of moves that i have developed for cases, but they are no where near optimal.
bad look ahead 
not knowing enough algorithms (i have 5 algorithm last layers sometimes,but mostly its 3)
switching between roux and cfop constantly. but not sticking with one to get any good (sub 20 with each..but barely)


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## StachuK1992 (Oct 3, 2011)

doing OH while driving.


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## DavidWoner (Oct 3, 2011)

Not turning fast enough.


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## Akuma (Oct 3, 2011)

Biking while speedcubing (two-handed)


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## lordchriszhou (Oct 3, 2011)

Counting down inspection time seconds instead of inspecting


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## Dane man (Jun 19, 2014)

*The Bad Habits*

I've noticed that cubing is a very disciplined skill, requiring tons of practice and effort to get at least a semi-decent speed. There are many bad habits that I still need to break and many habits I'm looking forward to gaining.

Bad Habits (to break):
-Doing a back-twist on some of the moves due to experience with bad cubes (had no corner cutting).
-Looking at the timer, even out of the edge of my vision (I freak out when I see that I will make it super fast, or it'll be super slow, and I trip up).
-Doing F2L pairs too fast to do proper look-ahead.
-Getting overly eager to start and starting instead of using all of my inspection time to maximize speed.
-Deleting solve times I don't like from timers (I must accept my slowness in order to improve).
-Turning the cube instead of turning a side to see or perform certain actions.
-Not being color neutral (stupid crosses).
-More that I find out later...

Good Habits (to gain):
-The opposite of all my bad habits.
-Keeping my cool as I solve.
-Practicing daily and efficiently (some F2Ls, some completes).
-Better finger-tricks and corresponding algs.
-etc.

So what are y'alls bad cubing habits, and what are the good habits that you want to gain?


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## yoshinator (Jun 19, 2014)

I need to use my inspection, I never plan cross+1, and sometimes (when it's hard) I don't even plan the whole cross.


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## penguinz7 (Jun 19, 2014)

I have many of the ones you have Dane, including looking at the timer during solves, and deleting times I don't like. Another is not always counting a plus 2.. I'm getting better though..


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## TDM (Jun 19, 2014)

Some of my bad habits are similar to yours, some aren't. Mine include:

Just solving and not doing target practise (until a few days ago).
Continuously solving even when my wrist is hurting a lot.
Using CFOP (it's boring).
Not being colour neutral.
Not using inspection (I don't even plan my cross some of the time).
Looking up at the timer.
Not doing penalties (but only when I think the lockup cost me more time than it would have taken to do the last move(s)... still a bad habit though, but I'm starting to do +2s when I should now).
Not learning any algs because I don't have the motivation and expecting to improve.


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## Antonie faz fan (Jun 19, 2014)

Time my self to much, should practice look ahead.


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## Vesper Sword (Jun 19, 2014)

Fooling around with other methods when I should be practicing roux!
Being too lazy to learn new algorithms.
Being inconsistent as hell on 4x4.
Practicing only one event mainly.


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## maps600 (Jun 19, 2014)

I solve with Roux btw.
Mine include:
-Only planning the 1x2x2 part of the first block during inspection, and not thinking about the other two pieces
-Not turning slowly enough on the second block
-Using way too many moves
-Not looking for skips in the L4E permutation step
-Being too CFOPy


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## antoineccantin (Jun 19, 2014)

Not using inspection enough
Giving up on terrible solves
Just being ultra inconsistent


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## Chree (Jun 19, 2014)

Like everyone else... not using all of inspection. And like Jacob & TDM, not even fully planning the cross all the time.

Recognizing that I'm handling a certain case inefficiently, but not trying to find a better way to do it.

Sometimes if I'm having a bad session I'll just stop solving and walk away from the puzzle. Maybe it's good to take a break, but the flipside is that any practice is good practice, even if I'm not performing at my best.


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## Rocky0701 (Jun 19, 2014)

-Not using enough inspection
-Mindlessly solving
-Looking up at the timer
-Being very inconsistent
-Deleting bad times
-Focusing too much on 3x3 VS other events too
-Putting off the last 20 OLLs that I need to learn
-Using hand scrambles on 5x5 and up


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## Chree (Jun 19, 2014)

Rocky0701 said:


> -Using hand scrambles on 5x5 and up



Kevin Hays said on his Google+ Hangout with Felix that he "doesn't remember the last time he read an internet scramble for 7x7". So I think you're OK there. After hearing that, I stopped reading scrambles for 7x7 and 6x6. Although I do separate my records for hand scrambles from normal scrambles.

I still use scramblers for 5x5. But I think different people have different standards.


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## 3LEVAS3 (Jun 19, 2014)

BAD HABITS:
-I'm usually too busy inspecting the cross and not planning out my F2L pairs... so that means MANY cube rotations. So that's a bad habit.
-Um... also I delete my bad times xD which isn't good obviously. 
-For cross inspection I automatically look for parts of the white cross which is a habit I need to break.
-I don't slow down a lot when I practise F2L 
-Sometimes I get distracted by looking at something and I screw up.
-Oh yeah, I'm not that colour neutral, I freak out whenever I start on something not white or yellow....

GOOD HABITS  
-I practise every day
-I try to memorise at least one OLL or PLL a day (slow, but I'll get there)
-Getting better at finger-tricks although for me F and B is kind of hard
- Cross on bottom ftw!


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## cuberkid10 (Jun 19, 2014)

I do cross on top, although I'm trying to stop because it's stopping me from being consistently sub-12.


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## rsquaredcuber (Jun 20, 2014)

Don't worry about deleting your bad times, because I think I speak for a lot of cubers when I say that we all, at one point or another, do it. xD back at you! lol, so don't worry about that 2nd one .


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## IRNjuggle28 (Jun 20, 2014)

cuberkid10 said:


> I do cross on top, although I'm trying to stop because it's stopping me from being consistently sub-12.



You might have the UWR for fastest cross on U solver. 

But seriously. Have it on D. Just cold turkey off solving it on top. Do nothing but crosses on D, and after a few weeks of insane frustration, you'll get used to it and it'll be faster.


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## kcl (Jun 20, 2014)

I need to plan cross+1 more..


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## WinterCub3r (Jun 20, 2014)

U3... ya instead of doing U' I will sometimes accendentaly go the wrong way through out the solve.


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## Genesis (Jun 20, 2014)

How is not being cn a bad habit? :confused:


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## waffle=ijm (Jun 20, 2014)

Bad Habits
< - Does not practice meticulously 

Good Habits
< -Does practice 10 minutes before competing


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## Rocky0701 (Jun 20, 2014)

Chree said:


> Kevin Hays said on his Google+ Hangout with Felix that he "doesn't remember the last time he read an internet scramble for 7x7". So I think you're OK there. After hearing that, I stopped reading scrambles for 7x7 and 6x6. Although I do separate my records for hand scrambles from normal scrambles.
> 
> I still use scramblers for 5x5. But I think different people have different standards.


I do remember him saying that actually now that you've reminded me. I guess I will just keep using hand scrambles. Plus, it probably makes it harder, because if I see an easy center, then I just keep scrambling, while I would solve it if it was a computer scramble.


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## Nilsibert (Jun 20, 2014)

Rocky0701 said:


> I do remember him saying that actually now that you've reminded me. I guess I will just keep using hand scrambles. Plus, it probably makes it harder, because if I see an easy center, then I just keep scrambling, while I would solve it if it was a computer scramble.



True, but what I do is just scrambling without looking. If you do this for a time that's not too short, I think it's fair. Although when timing, I do use scrambles for 5x5.


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## xsolver (Jun 20, 2014)

Wat, i found myself in so many of your habits. Main ones would be:

-Loosing concetration after 25 solves
-Still not having the ability to fully inspect my cross (it should come in time)
-Sometimes doing U3 instead of U' during solves
-Deleting my bad times and looking at the timer during fast solves
-One of the biggest things i hate about my F2L: (keep in mind i only am a white solver) i always tend to do pairs with the corner piece having white on top! I even do cube rotations to separate the pairs in order to have white corner piece looking forward. Now when im getting faster, its so frustrating.


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## brian724080 (Jun 20, 2014)

xsolver said:


> -Deleting my bad times and looking at the timer during fast solves



I used to do that for a long time


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## ComputerGuy365 (Jun 20, 2014)

I have this awful habit that I look at the timer while I solve.


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## mns112 (Jun 20, 2014)

5BLD said:


> If I get one bad solve, I redo the whole average.
> I stopped doing that yesterday though, and funnily enough I seem to get better averages this way.
> 
> In CMLL I ALWAYS use my left hand to AUF. Yes, this means U', U' U', U' U' U' and *U' U' U' U'* as I can't double flick.
> ...


Isnt that like the same thing as not doing anything


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## Future Cuber (Jun 20, 2014)

Bad Habits :-
1.Search for a piece on the U layer by doing a(an) U4 but did'nt reliase that the pice was actually in fron of me 
2.Cube rotations
3.Lazy to learn the G and the N perms
4.Going superfast and screwing up my solve

Good Habits :-
1.Do an AO20 every day
2.TRYING to inspect my cross
3.Watching other cubers


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## uberCuber (Jun 20, 2014)

bad habits
practicing skewb


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## QQW (Jun 20, 2014)

deleting all solves over 22 sec although I barely avg 19.4

DNFing once on 3 solves, delete solve

deleting pop, corner twist solves, even if they are good (they could have been better, I think at that time)

stop the timer 3 moves before the end of G-perm

keep force-corner cutting my Huanying for noise

quit after 5 straight solves over 21sec

keep doing T-perm(noise annoying)(loud Huanying)

putting my cubes in dirty places

never computer scramble for 4x4 or 5x5 or 7x7, never even tried except for 4x4, in WCA competition, failed my first 4 scrambles and I quit

overlubing my cubes with Traxaas 50k

even my stickers hate me they keep chipping........haha

overloosening my cubes by a lot (my Huanying pops, my SS5 pops, my Weisu pops like hell, my Moyu Lingpo 2x2 pops, my Dayan Zhanchi pops, my V cube 3 pops, My SS aurora pops)

not using and end up by forgetting my newly learned OLLs

too lazy at learning OLLs, like 3 a week, all gathered in one day, 10 minutes because I have motivation at that time.

being too lazy to practice CFOP other than doing solves over and over


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## Ulbert (Jun 20, 2014)

Habit I want to fix: Stop hitting my cubes every time they pop or lock up and screw up a fantastic solve solve I guess. Or rather stop treating them like toys whatsoever... YOUR CUBES MIGHT BE TOYS BUT NOT MINE!!!

I don't know if it seems hard but it definitely is I mean to much ADHD duuuhh...



lordchriszhou said:


> Counting down inspection time seconds instead of inspecting



Hahaha that made me laught hard! Thats definitely a good one...


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## 3LEVAS3 (Jun 20, 2014)

teller said:


> Picking white as my cross.




Same.

Another is taking too long with F2L.


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## Tom606060 (Jun 21, 2014)

Stopping the timer and restarting everytme i think im done with cross and find that i messed up.


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