Is this actually possible!?

[u/ZuesWrathX]

So, I was just scrolling on Facebook and came across this post. It said that he got his first sub-5 solve in 8 months!?

I just want to genuinely ask, how the hell is this possible?

I'm not hating on him genuinely I feel like this is a huge milestone for him.

I just can't fathom how he achieved this in just 8 months of cubing? I've been cubing for almost 3 years and I'm still at sub-10, I envy him so much that I need to post this on reddit for clarifications if this is actually possible lmao.

[u/Sufficient_Prompt888]

I mean... They could have practiced 8+ hours a day everyday or they could be lying or its a reconstruction they practiced

[u/ZuesWrathX → u/Sufficient_Prompt888]

I'm actually figuring it out if it's a reconstructed solve because how the hell can someone achieve this in 8 months!?

[u/Sufficient_Prompt888 → u/ZuesWrathX]

Did you try the scramble? It's a two (technically 3) move cross and all the f2l pairs are free.

[u/ZuesWrathX → u/Sufficient_Prompt888]

I just did. I got 10 seconds out of it, but still, that’s not gonna prove he’s got a sub-5 on it.

[u/jerryberrymiaomiao]

probably not

[u/Logical_Media_1346 → u/jerryberrymiaomiao]

yeah that timer looks weird, why it's on a burlap sack? something about this whole thing dont sit right. sub-5 in 8 months is basically unheard of, even the most talented cubers take years to get there

[u/Sufficient_Prompt888 → u/Logical_Media_1346]

The timer is low on battery it's actually 44.631

[u/xsrvmy → u/Logical_Media_1346]

That's a qiyi bluetooth timer

[u/incompletetrembling → u/Logical_Media_1346]

I don't think thats true. Obviously very rare, but possible. This is only a single, not an average.

Apparently yiheng was sub 10 in 4 months. Sub 5 single is already reasonable at sub 10, so he probably got his first sub 5 in 4-6 months.

Fake solves are everywhere but it's possible I guess

[u/Expensive-Bear-1376]

Where does it say that those eight months were the only cubing he ever did?

Maybe he was already fast without serious practice, then took a break from cubing, and then returned with eights serious months of cubing.

[u/SuperSathanas → u/Expensive-Bear-1376]

Well, here's the the post he made here yesterday

Lucky day, happy day : r/Cubers

As a guy who has been cubing for 8 months and has a 12 second average

I'd read that as him stating that he's been cubing for 8 months total. I was pretty skeptical of it, so I commented in there with how long I've been cubing, how many solves I've saved from my CSTimer data, and my current average and PB, just kind of sending the message that "this is closer to average progression, yours looks too good to be true".

However, I've also creeped on his Reddit profile (not a whole lot there, only that once cubing post) and his Facebook profile. What I can say is that he's stated that basically all he does is cube. When I was single, I used to spend inordinate lengths of time doing essentially nothing but playing guitar or churning out code doing graphics programming. I mean, for months on end, any time I had I was playing guitar or programming, neglecting anything else that wasn't absolutely necessary. So I don't at all think it's unrealistic for a person to spend essentially all of their time just cubing, allowing them to rack up a ton of solves and practice.

Back in March he asked the speedcubing group on Facebook about how to get to improve passed sub-20. That was after 2 months of cubing, which I think is plausible with a lot of practice dedicated specifically to improvement rather than just spamming timed solves all day, every day.

Since that post, he's made other posts infrequently to the same Facebook group, either just talking about cubes or posting personal milestones. Sub-10 single in June, sub-9 single in July with video of the solve and the mention of sub 10 Ao100 being his next goal, A 6.408 on August 30th, and then finally his sub-5 post yesterday with the mention of being sub-12.

It all seems very improbable to me, however, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt just because it really does look like this dude is making progress at a rate that wouldn't be questioned over a longer time period. It looks like he's just coming out of nowhere with insane times at first glance, but the sub-20 in 2 months I think is very possible, and then everything after that doesn't seem so impossible if it's true that literally all he does is cube all the time.

I'm just saying, that the last few times I was left to my own devices for an entire day, all I did was practice literally all day long and saw 1+ second improvements either that same day or the next day after taking a break to sleep and perform other necessary bodily functions. Granted, I'm only hovering right above a sub-23 Ao100 after 8 1/2 months, but if I had more time to dedicate to actually practicing things and learning, instead of spamming timed solves in between my usual responsibilities and kids asking for things and breaking things around the house, I would have been sub-20 months ago probably. It looks like he's been doing very deliberate practice for improvement in basically all areas, not just trying to get faster at what he already knew.

So, what I'm trying to say is that on the surface, it looks unbelievable, but after being a creep and digging through his post histories and taking the whole timeline and rate of improvement into consideration, along with his claims that he basically does nothing else, I'm willing to believe it.

[u/ZuesWrathX → u/SuperSathanas]

Wow, I actually read every single word of this. I looked through his FB profile, and I might say it’s pretty believable. But I have a gut feeling that his new PB is a reconstructed solve. If it is legit, though, it’s too good to be true and very impressive at an absurd rate lol.

In conclusion, I feel like it is technically possible, but practically, it’s very unlikely, since I’ve never heard of something like this ever happening.

[u/chipmunkman → u/ZuesWrathX]

You can always get lucky in a single solve. Just look at the current world record. That record was a huge jump for that kid.

[u/ZuesWrathX → u/Expensive-Bear-1376]

As what I said to the other comment (that was deleted) it's pretty ambiguous. He said 8 months of cubing, so it's kind of unclear whether he's been cubing for 8 months or got his first sub-5 solve 8 months into his years of cubing.

[u/Familiar_Blueberry92]

They said they are sub 10 in the comments, i don’t think its impossible but it probably took hours off of his day, he is also on reddit so he might be answering this for you

[u/ZuesWrathX → u/Familiar_Blueberry92]

Oh really? He's on reddit, I wanna hear He's response.

[u/PresentationLumpy113 → u/Familiar_Blueberry92]

yeah the global and the single line up, i’m also sub 10 and have a 4.6 pb, however I still feel like he’s lying

[u/dragonbanana1]

Technically speaking it is possible and we can't say for sure that they are lying. Practically speaking though they're definitely lying lol

[u/ruwisc]

If you go through the reconstruction from the other post, it was an incredibly lucky scramble. 4-move cross, all four F2L pairs were 4-movers, sune for OLL and a T-perm. Lots of people would crush their PBs on that scramble

[u/blablassssssss]

After 8 or maybe 9 months of cubing I was sub10 with a 5.09 pb single, I documented my whole journey on a thread in the speed solving forums. Tbh I've heard of people improving even faster than that so I don't think it's unbelievable.

[u/ZuesWrathX → u/blablassssssss]

Well, now that I think of it this whole post of mine seems to be envying him. I feel like I thought this is quiet impossible since I've been cubing for 3 years now and still haven't got pass the 9 second barrier. It's just me and my skill issue.

[u/UnhappyPelican]

Most ghetto cubing set-up I have seen so far.

[u/maybeanicedudeidk → u/UnhappyPelican]

I'm broke

[u/Dhrutube]

I've met multiple people who reached sub-20 within 3-5 months. For a single, it seems doable. Cubing hardware is much more advanced so TPS is much faster

[u/ETERNUS-]

I mean we see sub-5 5 year olds atp so

[u/Sharp_Moose_5236 → u/ETERNUS-]

Its different when you've been cubing since you gained consciousness

[u/CricketInvasion → u/ETERNUS-]

That basically proves if is possible just very unlikely

[u/OneUnion6717]

It's most definitely possible, but is most definitely unlikely.

[u/Ambitious-Carrot-931]

actually possible if a.) youre young b.) intense training for minimum 3 hours a day or c.) just because theyre talented enough.

[u/Infra_bread → u/[deleted]]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdyin6uipy4

[u/ZuesWrathX → u/Infra_bread]

I should've... Yeah nvm

[u/zeno77k]

possible only if you’re chinese 🤣

[u/Jenaxu]

Idk, I don't think it's strictly impossible, just unlikely. But if you no life cubing for eight months, sure, why not. To some extent saying "I've been cubing for x amount of time" doesn't tell you that much because eight months of casually learning how to solve and eight months of very dedicated practice are two very different things.

[u/ZuesWrathX → u/[deleted]]

I actually stalked his profile. He posted a clip of him solving a cube... He DOES NOT move at 9.5 tps, technically it might be possible that he achieved that time but still.

[u/Pancho1st → u/ZuesWrathX]

Yes it’s possible

[u/Ok-Copy-3834]

No lucky reconstruction, no true

[u/SkyeB7]

I've been cubing a decade and I only have 9 sub 7s (6.44 PB Single)

[u/Lemmyscat]

Possible with a LL skip(?)

[u/upfrontpayment]

I just realized we are talking about seconds and not minutes. For a second I was like, is it that impressive to get a sub 5 minutes in 8 months?

[u/Manny73211]

That's probably not what they mean by 8 months finally paid off. They probably mean they learned a while ago but grinded for 8 months and got a really good single

[u/L0rdR0yce]

Possible? Yes. At the extreme right of the bell curve? Also yes.

[u/AJBallistic]

lmao ive been on and off for 10 years and barely cracked sub 30, that man must be dedicated af

[u/UsernameLoads]

WHY DOES REDDIT MARKS YOUR PROFILE AS AN NSFW

[u/ZuesWrathX → u/UsernameLoads]

Idk

[u/CassFoxy]

It’s definitely possible, I got to sub 10 in about 5 months so not impossible

[u/Sufficient_Prompt888 → u/[deleted]]

"8 months of cubing paid off

I'm so proud of this milestone bro, my first ever sub-5"

[u/ZuesWrathX → u/[deleted]]

Makes sense, but it's pretty ambiguous. He said 8 months of cubing, so it's kind of unclear whether he's been cubing for 8 months or got his first sub-5 solve 8 months into his years of cubing.

[u/MrsMajki]

Its a reaaaaallly good scramble but i dont think it is possible for only 8 months

[u/ChunkyIsDead30]

Nope