Skills That Help You Solve Speed Cubes and Perform Other Tasks Faster

Speed cubes are a type of cube designed to be solved as quickly as possible. These cubes twist more fluidly than regular Rubik’s Cubes, and don’t lock up when twisted fast.

A few tips can help you solve a speed cube faster, including learning finger tricks and shortcuts. These can cut down your solving time by up to 10 moves per second.

Speed

Speed cubers have fast reflexes that allow them to solve puzzles quickly. These same reflexes can also help them perform other tasks faster such as typing on computers and messaging on cell phones.

Cubes that are optimized for speed have minimal friction between layers, allowing them to turn very quickly. These cubes are quiet and don’t give the dry-scratchy feeling that slow turning ones do.

However, they may not be as precise when executing algorithms due to the minimal resistance they have between layers. This can make them harder to control than smooth turning ones, and can also overshoot if they aren’t properly aligned.

Some high-end cubes have magnets that align the layers to each other, giving them more control and making them easier to solve. This is especially helpful when solving bigger puzzles because it allows layers to align themselves without having to worry about adjusting them.

Coordination

Coordination is a set of skills that allow people to perform both fine and gross motor tasks with high success. It’s the ability to coordinate your movements with each other, and it’s often a key part of being able to walk, speak, or use a computer.

The simplest way to practice coordination is by bouncing a tennis ball against a wall or other object and catching it with one hand. That’s a great way to strengthen your core muscles and improve hand-eye coordination, Dean Somerset, C.S.C.S., an Edmonton, Alberta-based kinesiologist and exercise physiologist, tells SELF.

Solving a speed cube requires sharp reflexes, excellent hand-eye coordination, and the ability to think quickly. Some speed solvers can complete the puzzle in less than three seconds, and they’re world-record holders at it.

Muscle Memory

Muscle memory is a process that occurs when you perform physical movements over and over. Whether you’re riding your bike, throwing a ball or hitting a golf ball, muscle memory allows your brain to recall these skills automatically without requiring you to think about them.

In the case of bodybuilding, this means that you can regain your strength and muscle mass more easily when you return to training after a break. This happens because your muscles remember that they were worked, and this is reflected in how fast you can start to recoup the strength they lost.

It’s thought that the process of developing muscle memory ties into a phenomenon known as long-term potentiation (LTP), which is a process that enables neuronal connections to be strengthened and refined with repeated stimulation. It’s similar to motor learning and occurs when you perform an action repeatedly, triggering action potentials to shoot out from your brain and travel along long skinny cell extensions called axons that connect your neurons to your muscles.

Reflexes

Reflexes are hard-wired responses to stimuli that your body experiences. They help you survive. They also form the basis for more complicated physical activities, such as walking or riding a bike.

Most reflexes work by sending information to the spinal cord from one part of your body (sensory neurons) and sending it away to another part (motor neurons). A simple reflex is called a monosynaptic, which means that there’s only one space in the spinal cord where the message travels between sensory and motor neurons.

A knee-jerk reflex is a good example of a monosynaptic reflex. It’s a quick tap on the knee that sends a signal to the muscle spindle afferent neurons, which then send the signal to the motor neuron via a single synapse.

Researchers have been studying reflex training for many years, and they have found that it can increase a person’s mobility. In a small study, people with incomplete spinal cord injuries improved their walking speed by about 59 percent and their gait became more symmetrical after undergoing reflex conditioning.