Asklemmy

I definitely hit a wall with my magnet-less cube trying to get sub-minute using beginner's. It was just not going to happen.

Now I'm like 13 different cubes in and I got a flagship cube from Moyu which has helped me get these sub-half-minute times. The GAN 14 Pro was also quite instrumental.

But yeah, CFOP is a must if you want to get good times with reasonable ease (i.e. not brute forcing it using beginner's).

I recommend practicing one thing at a time in order to get good at it. E.g. your cross. Sit and watch/listen to some YouTube or podcasts or something and just do white crosses for like 30 minutes at a time. You will improve very quickly, I promise. Use the fact that a cross is achievable in 8 moves or less from any scramble as a bar from which you can gauge your performance, and count the moves you make. Focus on different aspects at a time: number of moves until finished cross but take your time both with inspection and turning, only move efficiency; then try to do the cross faster but still unlimited inspection time; then finally limit your inspection time as well (if you care about competition rules).

Focusing on different things like this really helps. Same with the CFOP method. If you want to learn it, you'll want to focus on the muscle memory of one algorithm at a time. Really grinding it until you feel like you know it. After that, try to use it in a solve. Next session, you will have forgotten it again, so repeat a little bit and refresh that muscle memory until it sticks after a while.

Also these things need to be kept fresh. Your hands will forget algs unless they continue to use them.

It's a lot of work but a lot of fun if you enjoy improving. Nothing beats that feeling of setting a new personal best.

PS: I'm 38 now, and I started less than a year ago. It's never too late IMO.