# I've stopped improving.



## Lotsofsloths (Sep 18, 2008)

Over the coarse of the last year or so I've been cubing. 
Last December I was at 30ish. 
In January I was at 24. 
When March came I was 20ish. 
I reached 17 at May. 
In June I achieved times of 15. 
Since then, I have stopped improving, I am still averaging 15 and even more in-consistent. For example, today I got a 18 average of 5. And also a 17 average of 12. 4 months and not a single second off my time?
Whats happening?


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## qqwref (Sep 18, 2008)

It's called going as fast as you can go, and it happens to everyone. (Really.) Time to learn a new method, work on faster fingertricks, or maybe even (gasp!) start working on a different puzzle.


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## Faz (Sep 18, 2008)

learn more OLLS?

Btw i have a lovely secret, highlight below.


I average 15 now, and i havent been telling you, i wanted to hide it and get a sub 15 average on the SC. MY best average is like 15.10, i just got a 15.24 average. TEHEHE!!! Sloths, i challenge you.


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## Lotsofsloths (Sep 18, 2008)

Ok, make the video with the scrambles and I'll post it as a video response tomorrow, tonight my camera is out of battery.


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## Dene (Sep 18, 2008)

Well, Mr. Saha, you can hardly complain. In January I got my first sub20 average, and I only just got my first sub17 average. I recommend doing what Mr. Gottlieb "(gasp!)" recommended, and start working on other puzzles. Also, OH might help too.


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## Lotsofsloths (Sep 18, 2008)

Other puzzles don't intrest me.
I've tried Pyraminx and Square-1 and Magic, and others. But I get bored of them. BLD I don't practice but I don't want to pick it up again either. OH I am working on.


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## DavidWoner (Sep 18, 2008)

qqwref said:


> Time to learn a new method, work on faster fingertricks, or maybe even (gasp!) start working on a different puzzle.





Dene said:


> I recommend doing what Mr. Gottlieb "(gasp!)" recommended, and start working on other puzzles.



they are 100% right you know. i was stuck at PB avg of 22s from the end of march until the start of june. at that point i did nothing but 2x2, 4x4, and clock for the whole summer. my 2x2 avg went from around 8.5 to low 5's with a best avg of 4.80. my 4x4 went from 1:40 avg and 1:26 PB to a 1:22 avg and a 1:00.63 PB. I had actually never solved a clock until july, and now my best avg is 9.82 and I have had many sub-9 means of 3, a few of which were faster than the current WR.

The point of the story: When i got to college i decided to pick up 3x3 again. after 3 day i got my first sub-20 avg(19.99 lol). the next day, i relubed my cube(those day when i was got the UWR for assemling a cube took a heavy toll on it) and got a 18.95, and two days after that i got an 18.76. so i improved by more than 3 seconds without practicing 3x3, learning any new algs, or changing cubes.



Lotsofsloths said:


> Other puzzles don't intrest me.
> I've tried Pyraminx and Square-1 and Magic, and others. But I get bored of them. BLD I don't practice but I don't want to pick it up again either. OH I am working on.



2x2, 4x4, and 5x5 etc are technically other puzzles too. you could get pretty could at those without too much practice since your "basic speed", as erik calls it, is quite high. seriously, give it another shot.


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## ErikJ (Sep 18, 2008)

haha, I always get really inconsistent right before a drop in my times. I got a 14.22 average of 12 the other day and my times range between 11 and 19, lol. 

I recommend you work on big cubes or something. 5x5 is WAAAAAAAY more fun when you are good at it. I still don't like 4x4 though because mine is old.

BLD does get boring. I've only been doing BLD solves in school because people like to watch it. but even one solve a day helps.


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## Faz (Sep 18, 2008)

Lotsofsloths said:


> Ok, make the video with the scrambles and I'll post it as a video response tomorrow, tonight my camera is out of battery.



Ill make it as soon as my dad lets me use his camera. Hopefully this weekend.


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## Dene (Sep 18, 2008)

Yea, 5x5x5 definitely, and bigger. I find a 7x7x7 solve is enough to warm me up, which I like, as warming up is annoying  .


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## DAE_JA_VOO (Sep 18, 2008)

This is why...



Lotsofsloths said:


> haha I go online and talk to the community way more than I actually cube.





Dude, i think it gets to a point where you need to put in a LOT of hours to improve. I haven't confirmed this theory, because i'm still very slow (28 avg) but that's how it is with lots of stuff. I'm also a skateboarder, and i've been skating for over 9 years, and i progress slowly because i don't put enough time into it.


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## ErikJ (Sep 18, 2008)

DAE_JA_VOO said:


> This is why...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I was 20-23 second average for months. this time last year I was 17s I think. It took me a long time to get really fast.


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## razorjumper (Sep 18, 2008)

im stuck at sub 33solves average. pb 19.23...stop improving.. unless to learn all olls and plls which i dont have time for it.


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## Escher (Sep 18, 2008)

nah you can learn the PLLs razorjumper. one a day for 3 weeks, and thats not including not having to learn some by doing reflections (i.e R, J) with your LH. it takes a good few seconds off of your times  seriously, you can do it!


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## nitrocan (Sep 18, 2008)

ErikJ said:


> I recommend you work on big cubes or something. 5x5 is WAAAAAAAY more fun when you are good at it.



Maybe we can say "Bigger is better" ?


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## Lotsofsloths (Sep 18, 2008)

Big cubes don't interest me, they scare me.
I like fast paced puzzles.
I would try 5x5, but that means I have to buy one xD


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## Dene (Sep 18, 2008)

It is fast paced, a lot faster in fact! Try doing sub30 centers on a 5x5x5: it is a blur.


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## Lotsofsloths (Sep 18, 2008)

Dene said:


> It is fast paced, a lot faster in fact! Try doing sub30 centers on a 5x5x5: it is a blur.



Try doing 10 solve, its a blur xD


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## MistArts (Sep 18, 2008)

Lotsofsloths said:


> Big cubes don't interest me, they scare me.
> I like fast paced puzzles.
> I would try 5x5, but that means I have to buy one xD



Don't practice 2x2. I want to be top 3 at Va08


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## McWizzle94 (Sep 19, 2008)

I think this same thing is kinda happening to me. I'm about the same speed as you (you are a little faster I think), and at this point i think you should try to go for speed if your look ahead is strong enough.


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## Lotsofsloths (Sep 19, 2008)

Thing is my look ahead isn't that good 
I guess I know what to practice, but what should I actually DO to practice look ahead, and I don't want that metronome crap, I solved metronome for like 30min each day for a week, and no improvement showed -.-"


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## Speedy McFastfast (Sep 19, 2008)

Dan, here's what I recommend doing. Go find other hobbies, some that require some athletic skill. Get a girlfriend. Go to school, then come how and go right to work, then come home and go to bed. Then cube again. You'll then realized how fortunate you are to be getting 15 second times.


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## Lotsofsloths (Sep 19, 2008)

Speedy McFastfast said:


> Dan, here's what I recommend doing. Go find other hobbies, some that require some athletic skill. Get a girlfriend. Go to school, then come how and go right to work, then come home and go to bed. Then cube again. You'll then realized how fortunate you are to be getting 15 second times.



I program in Flash MX, and I also am trying out for soccer this year and trying out for the Cross Country team next year. I do have a girlfriend, PM me and I'll send you a picture. I do go to school, and unfortunately I only have like 30min of homework each day. I do go to bed, about 9:45 each night. And I still cube. Yet I find that I am not improving. How's that?


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## Vulosity (Sep 19, 2008)

When I stop improving, I re-read every alg I've ever learned, cube for a few minutes and I get 2-3 seconds faster. But it doesn't work anymore now that I am averaging 22 sec.


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## waffle=ijm (Sep 19, 2008)

When my improvement just stalls like now (trying to break sub 16), I just cool down a bit, chill out. Usually my improvement standstills are just a result of tired hands and the mentality that you want to go faster. Don't overwork yourself or you'll die from the mentality that you can't go faster.


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## HelloiamChow (Sep 19, 2008)

Take a break. I cube best when I care the least. When I'm doing basically a random average while watching How I Met Your Mother, I dip sub15 pretty often. But when I decide to sit down and take an average, things just don't go as smoothly. Don't forget to enjoy what you're doing. Try and not cube for like a week, and just fill your time up with random other stuff. It could work.


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## McWizzle94 (Sep 20, 2008)

Lotsofsloths said:


> Speedy McFastfast said:
> 
> 
> > Dan, here's what I recommend doing. Go find other hobbies, some that require some athletic skill. Get a girlfriend. Go to school, then come how and go right to work, then come home and go to bed. Then cube again. You'll then realized how fortunate you are to be getting 15 second times.
> ...



Cross Country is cool =] Whats your mile time? (and 2 mile if you know)?

btw Speedy McFastfast, people can have other things outside of cubing that you probably don't know about, so don't imply that he has no life.


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## krnballerzzz (Sep 20, 2008)

Im backing up everyone when I say, go for another puzzle for a bit. When you go back to the 3x3 after a while, you'll most likely start improving your times again. 

Your brain just needs a break from the same 3x3 cube every single day ;P.


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## MistArts (Sep 20, 2008)

Try clock! Look-ahead is easy and you can try going extreme on look-ahead. It helped me go from 21 to 20.


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## guitardude7241 (Sep 21, 2008)

What I did is got a eastsheen 2x2, only cubed with it for 2 days straight, then I got 2 new PB's in the day after that. Just don't do the 3x3 at all for a while, bigger cubes usually help with look-ahead.


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## ScottKidder (Sep 22, 2008)

Learn VB ZB, MGLS, Multi-Slotting, Petrus, Roux, Something new to give you an extra edge. Work on a few new special F2L cases. Just learning something new to get you really interested again would help you out I think.


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## Cyber (Oct 24, 2008)

Still no improve? Or is this just an old thread?:confused:


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## Escher (Oct 24, 2008)

no! naughty cyber! bad cyber! 

dont bump old threads...


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## ajmorgan25 (Oct 24, 2008)

I've been having the same problem as well. I've been stuck at the 25ish sec average for awhile now. I mean, I didn't cube much during the summer because I held a job, but now I'm back into it. 

Hopefully I get a break soon.


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## fcwy1 (Oct 26, 2008)

Everone will always get stuck at some point.
I'm stuck at 14-27average.
av.14 is after alot of warm up.
av.27 is when i just woke up or in a freezing place.


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## Swordsman Kirby (Oct 26, 2008)

... 14-27 is an unrealistic range.


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## fcwy1 (Oct 26, 2008)

it takes me super long to warm up.
In the morning i can't look ahead, slow finger tricks, hence getting a 27average.
As i warm up thriugh out the day, my look-ahead becomes better.
Finger tricks become fast after an hour of warm up.


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## rachmaninovian (Oct 26, 2008)

i've always found you kind of mysterious...
everyone else here pretty much averages perhaps just a tinge slower in the morning. maybe at most 30 min of warm up we should be averaging consistently already.


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## Escher (Oct 26, 2008)

lol it takes me a while to warm up too... but i only go from around 22, to 18, or ~17 on a good day.


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## Me (Oct 27, 2008)

Yeah, I've basically stopped improving for the last year and a half or so, get used to it Daniel


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## dinki1968 (Oct 27, 2008)

Waa, I feel that I'm having this kinda problem. I'm stuck at sub17 - sub18 average, think I just have to follow what you guys have said. Chill for awhile. weeee. ^_^


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## Faz (Oct 27, 2008)

Me said:


> Yeah, I've basically stopped improving for the last year and a half or so, get used to it Daniel



Got that right

No advice that i know can really help you............ except........... turn faster on F2L


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## rachmaninovian (Oct 27, 2008)

Escher said:


> no! naughty cyber! bad cyber!
> 
> dont bump old threads...



anyway i can't stop laughing at this XD


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## blah (Oct 27, 2008)

rachmaninovian said:


> i've always found you kind of mysterious...
> everyone else here pretty much averages perhaps just a tinge slower in the morning. maybe at most 30 min of warm up we should be averaging consistently already.



You're not alone dude. Especially when you've seen him cube in real life. I smell something yishy.


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## fcwy1 (Oct 27, 2008)

Actually, i'm also wondering why i can't get a stable average and need long warm up time whereas some people don't even need warm up.

Blah,
What is with my cubing in real life?


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## Fusty (Oct 27, 2008)

fcwy1 said:


> Actually, i'm also wondering why i can't get a stable average and need long warm up time whereas some people don't even need warm up.



Consider yourself lucky. When i wake up I have 28 second averages, after warming up it drops all the way to... 27 seconds. At least you traverse 13 seconds over the course of warming up. What does it feel to warm up like that. Do you just watch the seconds fly off of your average. Thats like going from barely competitive to fairly darn competitive. 
As far as stagnation goes in general... I've been stuck in the sub30 range since october of last year, ugh. Time to learn PLL and OLL I guess.


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## Swordsman Kirby (Oct 27, 2008)

Fusty said:


> fcwy1 said:
> 
> 
> > Actually, i'm also wondering why i can't get a stable average and need long warm up time whereas some people don't even need warm up.
> ...



sub-30 is quite a broad range.


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## pjk (Oct 27, 2008)

Swordsman Kirby said:


> Fusty said:
> 
> 
> > fcwy1 said:
> ...


Indeed. Once you get down sub-15, warmup makes a good 1-3 second difference (at least for me), which doesn't sounds like much, but there is a huge difference between 17 and 14, or even 13 and 14.


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## Lofty (Oct 27, 2008)

Yea.. I don't know how warm-up can have so much of an effect...
for me I might get 5 seconds better and most of the improvement of that 5 seconds is done in the first 5 solves. I might get a few 20-22 solves maybe 2 of them after that I'm at 17-18 and then after awhile I'll go down to 16 nothing like what you say happens to you at all. For OH its pretty much the same, only change the numbers up by 1 second.


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## Mike Hughey (Oct 27, 2008)

Kenneth mentioned something about this once; maybe it's an effect that is generally more pronounced for older cubers? On some days, I'm fully up-to-speed with my first solve of the day. But on others, I'll start very badly, with times 10 to 15 seconds worse than my normal average. But as Kenneth mentioned, on a bad day, if I will just do a whole bunch of "warm-up" solves (sometimes it takes as many as 50), I will eventually get back to my normal average.


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## brunson (Oct 27, 2008)

Swordsman Kirby said:


> Fusty said:
> 
> 
> > As far as stagnation goes in general... I've been stuck in the sub30 range since october of last year, ugh. Time to learn PLL and OLL I guess.
> ...


I think it's reasonably safe to assume that when someone says they're sub-40, they aren't sub-20 or sub-30. So, in this case I'd guess he's solving in the 25-30 second range, or else he probably would have said, sub-25.


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## *LukeMayn* (Oct 27, 2008)

I got stuck at 22secs for about a month and a half. finally I'm getting sub 20 averages


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