Learning to Solve a Rubik's Cube in Under 60 Seconds With One Week of Training
Michelle Khare
On this episode of Challenge Accepted, Michelle Khare tries to go from never having solved a Rubik's Cube to solving one in under 60 seconds, with only seven days of practice. The coach is Dylan Wang, who runs the YouTube channel J Perm, where he makes Rubik's Cube tutorials. Dylan says he is ranked 69th in the world for fastest 3x3 solve, with a time of 5.31 seconds. The episode covers how speedcubing works, the beginner method Michelle learned, and the specific habits that kept her above the one-minute mark until the end of the week.
A First Race and a Sense of the Gap
The session opens with Michelle confirming she has never solved a cube. Dylan sets up an uneven race: he will solve the whole cube while she tries to complete just one side. By the time he finishes, she has five yellow pieces in place. Her reaction to watching him is mostly about speed: "your hands are moving so fast."
Why Modern Cubes Are So Much Faster
Dylan explains part of the gap with hardware. Rubik's Cube competitions go back to 1982, when a large event set a world record of 22 seconds. He says that time is not great by today's standards, but the cubes were much worse then. On an old cube, a face that is slightly misaligned does not really turn. On a modern speedcube, he can leave a face off by the maximum, 45 degrees, and the cube still turns from almost any position.
Modern cubes also contain magnets. If Dylan turns a face slowly, it snaps into place when the turn finishes, which Michelle calls satisfying. Technique matters too. Dylan demonstrates turning with individual fingers rather than the whole hand, which would be slower. He also shows the "double flick," which turns a face twice at once and can be done very fast. He names these refinements as a big reason people have been able to solve the cube in under six seconds, then under five. He gives the world record as three seconds.
More Than One Event, and More Than One Puzzle
Dylan says part of what keeps cubing fun is that competitions include several events. The 3x3 can be solved one-handed and blindfolded. Competitions also include cubes from 2x2 up to 7x7. He then shows Michelle some unusual puzzles. One is shaped like a penguin, and Michelle is upset when it gets scrambled until she manages to restore it. Another is a cute puzzle he suggests as a good starting point for her, although because it does not start scrambled, there is nothing to actually solve. The last one gives Michelle "a strong visceral reaction." Dylan says it took him six and a half hours to solve and that it will never be scrambled again.
Dylan also describes his view of the sport. Unlike many sports where you try to beat an opponent, in speedcubing you are often just trying to be better than you were yesterday. He says that as long as Michelle enjoys that process, he thinks she will do fine.
The Anatomy of the Cube
The lesson starts with the three types of pieces. Center pieces determine which color belongs on each face: a blue center means blue goes on that side. Edge pieces sit between two centers and have two colors. Corner pieces sit on the corners and have three colors. Dylan takes a cube apart to show that each edge and corner is a single physical piece stuck together, not separate stickers that move independently.
He says the pieces can be arranged in up to 43 quintillion ways, but the method he is about to teach can solve any of those positions.
The Seven-Step Beginner Method
The beginner method Dylan teaches has seven steps:
- Solve the white cross.
- Complete the white layer, with the side colors matching as well.
- Solve the second (middle) layer.
- Make a yellow cross on the face opposite white.
- Get the colors of the yellow cross to match on the sides.
- Move the corners into their correct positions.
- Orient those corners one by one until the cube is solved.
For the white cross, he tells Michelle to find the white center, then look around the cube for pieces with white on them. She picks out three, and he asks which one is an edge, since only edges belong in the cross. The edge she finds is also red, so the goal is to attach it next to the red center. She turns the yellow side to bring the piece underneath the red center, then turns the red face until the piece joins the cross. Dylan notes that is one piece solved, with 19 more to go.
Algorithms: The Hardest Part
Next comes Michelle's first algorithm. She later says algorithms were the hardest thing for her to wrap her head around. As the episode explains, an algorithm is a pre-memorized sequence of moves. Some move a single piece to a different position. Others make two pieces swap places. Solving the cube means executing the right algorithms in the right order for whatever position you start from.
Once Michelle finishes the cross, she asks whether she now makes crosses for the other colors. Dylan says no: the method works layer by layer. The second step is the white layer, which means the white face plus correct colors on the surrounding sides. When she completes it, Michelle points out there are still five more sides. They move on to the second layer, then to the yellow cross. By step five Dylan tells her she looks like her brain is breaking, and she agrees with the diagnosis. He reassures her they are almost done. After steps six and seven, he gives her a printed guide to use as a reference later.
The "Sexy Move"
Reading the guide, Michelle finds that one of the short move sequences is called the "sexy move." Dylan demonstrates it to show where the name comes from. She asks whether Rubik himself named it. Dylan says no. Michelle then calls out a "Feliks" and asks whether he named it, but the episode never settles who coined the term.
Ernő Rubik and the Cube's Appeal
The episode gives a short history. The cube was invented by Ernő Rubik, who gave it its name, and the episode calls it the best-selling toy in history as evidence of how good the puzzle is. Rubik liked making puzzles. According to the episode, like many people meeting the cube for the first time, he expected it to be easy, but it took him a month to solve. The narration presents this as the cube's appeal: people have a moment of realizing the puzzle is much more than they thought.
The Starting Point and the Demand
Michelle's first guided solve took about an hour. Dylan calls that pretty good for a first attempt, but she has to get from an hour to under a minute in a week. Asked whether he has ever seen a student with zero experience break a minute in a week, Dylan says he doesn't think so. He adds that he has also never had a student put in as much time as he hopes Michelle will. His prescription is that cubing has to be her life for the week. Even while watching TV, she needs to be solving, at least six hours a day.
Michelle says she will approach this challenge the same way as all her others, using one method for both mental and physical goals. (The promotional segment that follows is omitted here.)
The Training Week
The week becomes "eat, sleep, cube." Early solves are full of frustration, including one where Michelle gives up mid-solve. Her first solve without help takes 3 minutes 51 seconds, and she says she still has a lot to memorize. Later that day she gets 1 minute 47 seconds.
A few days in, she says so much has happened that her brain feels like it has evolved. Her routine is to wake up, eat breakfast, and go straight onto a stream to train, which she calls the first real training montage she has lived through. One drill is "chaos cube," where she solves while surrounded by deliberate noise and distraction. She gets so focused that she doesn't notice the noise, and the people watching remark on how much better she has gotten.
She also invents her own names for the algorithms: "the crank," "the flippity-skippity," "the skippity-flippity," "the break dance," "party," "reverse party," and "the finisher," which is her name for the last-layer work.
The Bottleneck: Hesitation, Not Hand Speed
Michelle kept beating her personal best but still made simple mistakes that held her above 60 seconds. In one attempt she fails to complete the four-move sequence and messes up at the end.
When she is only seconds from her goal, she identifies the problem. The issue is the time between algorithms. After finishing one algorithm, she spends several seconds thinking and trying to recall the next step. She also says that many times she gets to the last few steps of a solve and freezes, and suddenly the time is 1 minute 30. Her takeaway is that she needs to get faster and stop making mistakes.
Dylan describes the emotional side of the sport. You are constantly trying to improve yourself. Unlike some sports or video games, there is no opponent to blame, because the result is entirely on you. When you fail, it feels terrible, but when you succeed, you know it was all you.
The Result
Michelle eventually breaks 60 seconds. To show it wasn't a fluke, she does it again with a 55-second solve. She notes that getting under a minute required learning more complex algorithms than the episode shows, and points viewers to Dylan's video on the J Perm channel for a closer look at that process.
On this episode of Challenge Accepted, I am diving into the world of speedcubing to see if I can solve a Rubik's Cube in less than 60 seconds with only one week of training. Challenge accepted.
I'm Dylan Wang. I have a YouTube channel called J Perm where I make Rubik's Cube tutorials, and I am ranked 69th in the world for fastest 3x3 solve with a time of 5.31 seconds. So, Michelle, have you ever solved a Rubik's Cube?
No. Never. Oh my God, your hands are moving so fast.
That one's going to be for you, and you have to try and solve one side. I'm gonna solve the whole thing. Are you ready? And we're racing.
We're racing. Let's start. Three, two, one, go. Here. Oh, I got one! I got one!
You got five yellow pieces. You guys, yeah. How many points is that? Five? Zero.
Three, two, one, go.
Rubik's Cube competitions go back to 1982, where there was a big one held and a world record was set of 22 seconds, which honestly is not great by today's standards. But back then, the cubes were a lot worse. If you've ever tried one of the really old ones, if you have it slightly misaligned, it doesn't really turn. But on this one, you can even have it off the maximum amount, 45 degrees, and watch this. It just turns. It can turn from pretty much anywhere.
If you do a turn very slowly, it kind of locks in place when you finish your turn. Oh, that's satisfying. That's because there are magnets in these cubes. Magnets.
And this is just to help you turn the cube without using your entire hand, because obviously that would be slower. And then there's also the double flick, which goes like this to turn twice at once, and that can be done really fast. That's one of the big reasons why people have been able to solve it in under six seconds, five seconds, and so on. The world record is three seconds, so it really goes far.
But one thing that keeps it really fun is, in cubing competitions, we actually have multiple different events. One-handed. Blindfolded.
Oh my God. Thank you.
It's not just the 3x3 cube. We also have 2x2, 4x4, up to 7x7. This one is a penguin.
Oh my God, what? Oh, now I'm sad. Bring him back. Oh my God, I have to fix the penguin. You did it! Yay!
This one is one I think you could start with. This would be perfect for you. This is so cute. Yeah, but since it doesn't start scrambled, you can't actually solve it. I do have one more that I'm going to show you.
I'm having a strong visceral reaction to this. It took me six and a half hours, so we're never scrambling this ever again. I'd prefer a few times.
Unlike a lot of other sports where you're trying to beat an opponent, in speedcubing, often you're just trying to get better than who you were yesterday. So as long as she enjoys that process, I think that she's going to do just fine.
First, I'll have to teach you the different types of pieces on the cube. First is a center piece. The center pieces tell you which color goes on this side. So if there's a blue center piece, blue has to be on this side.
Next is an edge piece. This goes between two center pieces. They have two colors on them, and you can actually see it if you take apart a cube. It's just stuck together. Whoa.
And finally is the corner pieces. These are just on the corners, obviously, and have three colors on them. They're all stuck together. The total number of ways you can arrange the pieces actually goes up to 43 quintillion. But today I'll be teaching you a way to solve any of those positions with just one method.
The beginner method has seven steps. In the first step, we solve the white cross. So first, I want you to find the white center and then go around the cube looking for pieces that have white on them and an edge.
Okay, all three of these. But which one's an edge piece? This one. Yes. So we're only focusing on that one right now. It is also red, and you want to get it attached to the red center. Turn the yellow side to make it go underneath the red center. There you go. Then you will turn the red center until this piece is part of the cross. There you go. That's your first piece solved. Just 19 more to go.
So I'm going to teach you now your first algorithm.
Algorithms were definitely the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around. An algorithm is a pre-memorized sequence of moves on the cube. These algorithms are either used to move one piece to a different position on the cube or even have two pieces swap positions entirely. And to completely solve a cube, you need to execute the right algorithms in the right order according to your starting position.
Hit the target. Yep. And then go back. Perfect. You've solved the cross. That's the first step.
Now, once you do the cross for white, do you move on to the cross for the other colors? No, actually, we are going to solve layer by layer. The second step is to solve the white layer, which is like the white side, but you also need all the colors around the side to be correct, and that's what makes it a layer.
Am I making it worse? No, you did it. There's the first layer. That's when you go... Except there are five more sides.
So after the first layer, we'll solve the second layer around the cube here. Yay, we got the second layer. How are you feeling?
The fourth step is to make the yellow cross on the opposite side from white. Sia. I don't wanna be...
Step five is to get all the colors of the yellow cross to be correct on the sides. You look like your brain is breaking. Yes, that is the correct diagnosis. It's okay, we're almost there.
Step six is to put all the corners in their correct spots. Down. Yeah, you got it. And then the final step is just to solve each of those corners one by one until the rest of the cube is solved. I'm going to give you this guide as a reminder for how to do it in the future.
Are these the names of the moves? You didn't tell me that these were called sexy moves. That's the name of this. I'll show you why it's called sexy move. Just watch this.
Oh. What do you think? I mean...
So literally Mr. Rubik named them? No, no, no, he didn't name it. Who did this? Feliks? Feliks, are you watching this? Did you name this sexy move? Who did this? That's what the four moves are. Really cool. Much more history to cubing than I thought there would be.
The Rubik's Cube was invented by Ernő Rubik, which is where the name Rubik's Cube comes from. And a testament to how amazing this puzzle is is that it is actually the number one sold toy throughout history. Rubik was a man who likes making puzzles, and when he first saw it, much like a lot of people's first impression, you think it's going to be easy. But then he ended up taking a month to finally be able to solve it. This is where the appeal of the Rubik's Cube comes from. People get this moment of, wow, this is so much more than I thought it was.
How long was that? That was about one hour. Pretty good for your first time. I've got a lot of work to do to get that down to one minute in one week. Have you ever seen a student with zero experience get to under a minute in a week?
I don't think I have, but I've also never had a student who is going to put in as much time as hopefully you will, right? Because this is gonna have to be your life for the next week. Even if you're watching TV, you're gonna have to be solving a cube at least six hours a day to get this to work.
Okay, guys, so I have seven days to try and master Rubik's Cube in less than 60 seconds. And when I'm thinking about how I am going to approach this very daunting task, I think I'm actually going to approach it in the exact same way I do any of my other challenges. The truth is, I actually follow the same method for every single one, whether it's mental or physical.
And actually, this is the perfect time for me to tell you guys about a special project I've been working on all year and dying to tell you about. I have officially launched the Challenge Accepted Academy, where I will be teaching you the exact method I've used to conquer every single one of my challenges, including this one.
Challenge Accepted Academy is a 30-day boot camp. You're gonna come to the academy with a goal of your choosing, and for an entire month, I'm gonna stay on your ass to make sure you accomplish it. You guys are gonna get access to a video library of my entire process, start to finish, email templates, cheat sheets, and a full workbook of exercises that I've put together to help guide your journey. Not to mention, in this inaugural wave, we're also gonna have weekly calls with me and a group of trainers to help you stay accountable and cross the finish line.
This course is not for everybody, but if you're someone who's always had, secretly deep down, a big dream goal, but never a road map or someone holding you accountable to make sure you get it done, this is for you. So if you want to learn more and join me this January to kick ass in a goal of your own choosing, be sure to visit the link below so you can have your very own challenge accepted.
What's up? For the next week, grinding cube is all we do here. Eat, sleep, cube. One layer done. Two layers. No, no, no, no, wait. Dude, no. Dude, I have my four red. What? Nice. I admit defeat.
The first solve that you did on your own was a three minute, 51 second solve. Yes. How does it feel? I've got a lot to memorize here. Later that day, you ended up getting a one minute, 47 second solve. Go.
I'm keeping everything, everything I touch. So much has happened in the past few days. I feel like my brain has evolved. Waking up, eating breakfast, and going right onto a stream where we're gonna train. For you, it's like an actual training montage. I never thought I'd be living through an actual training montage.
Get ready for chaos cube. Get ready for chaos cube. Just trust me.
You didn't even notice the noise around you. Oh my God, he's gotten so much better. I got a flippity-skippity in this. Flippity-skippity. You've made up so many names. We have the crank, the flippity-skippity, the skippity-flippity, the break dance, party, reverse party, and the finisher. The finisher is when you're doing the last layer.
Oh, very good.
Oh my God. I was constantly beating my personal best. I was still making simple mistakes that were stopping me from hitting sub-60 seconds. Are you serious? You didn't finish the four moves. Dang it. Messed up at the end.
I am seconds away from hitting my goal, and what I've realized is that I need to reduce the amount of time that I spend between algorithms. So I'll be doing one algorithm, and before I head into the next, I spend several seconds just thinking and trying to recall what I'm supposed to do next. Need to get faster and stop making mistakes. There are so many times I'm so close to solving this, and I'm on the last couple steps, and I just freeze. And then the next thing I know, I'm at a minute 30.
It's a challenge to constantly improve yourself. It's not like in some sports or video games where you can kind of blame your opponents. This is entirely yourself, and so when you fail, it feels terrible. But when you succeed, you know it was all you.
Yes! And to make sure it wasn't a fluke, I did it again, this time at 55 seconds. Getting a sub-60 seconds required me to learn even more complex algorithms than what we showed here. So if you want a more in-depth look into that learning process, be sure to check out Dylan's video on the J Perm channel.
And if you want to conquer a challenge of your own, enroll in Challenge Accepted Academy today. There are a limited number of spots left, so be sure to click the link below and join me this January so you can start off your 2022 right.
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