I would recommend avoiding typing anything but Colemak and avoid conflicting your muscle memory.  Additionally, I found it useful to practice some of the most common words for my language and memorize the patterns for typing them. This includes your languages most common bigraphs and trigraphs, for example:  he, th, sh, the, and, are, st...ect.

I attempted Dvorak (with caps lock as backspace) due to its popularity, however, the right hand use of the layout was making my hand just as tired as before, but some less pain.  After a final batch of research, I settled on Colemak due to the very limited movement and reduced movement of the hands.

I am currently able to maintain speeds of about 50+ WPM

Nice report, thanks for posting.

Zokea said:

I would recommend avoiding typing anything but Colemak and avoid conflicting your muscle memory.  Additionally, I found it useful to practice some of the most common words for my language and memorize the patterns for typing them. This includes your languages most common bigraphs and trigraphs, for example:  he, th, sh, the, and, are, st...ect.

I think this advice is spot on. At first I didn't appreciate just how important bigrams/trigrams are for muscle memory, but soon discovered it really helped a lot to get a good technique established early on for the most common finger movement patterns.

Zokea said:

I attempted Dvorak (with caps lock as backspace) due to its popularity, however, the right hand use of the layout was making my hand just as tired as before, but some less pain.  After a final batch of research, I settled on Colemak due to the very limited movement and reduced movement of the hands.

Hmm, quite a lot of people seem to attempt Dvorak first.  Maybe it's just because Dvorak is more well known, and is an ANSI standard.  For me it was clear that Dvorak was a non-starter, but I read quite a bit about the pros and cons of all the layouts before making the switch.

Zokea said:

I am currently able to maintain speeds of about 50+ WPM

Good going! Your progress seems pretty rapid to me. Probably because you learned to touch-type already - anecdotally, that does seem to help. Best of luck with future progress but sounds like you're well on your way to nailing it.

Dvorak is still better known than Colemak, it seems. Good people, we have a job before us.

For rehearsing common words, may I recommend Amphetype? It works on both Windows and Linux, and I think it's brilliant all in all. I also use it to "type-read" books.

There was a post on this forum with lists of common words. You can paste one of those into the lesson generator and go crazy. Or you can type away for a while and let the generator pick words that you did poorly.

I usually get a book as a text file from Project Gutenberg, and put it into Amphetype. Experiment a little with how large chunks you want to use. Then I recommend using not too strict parameters so you won't have to type the same page again very often. This is brilliant for getting a lot of typing mileage. I've "read" Machiavelli that way, as well as Alice Through The Looking Glass and a 19th century lewd English book! ;-)

I found a note about making lists (from that forum post). Here it is:

Generating typing training lessons in Amphetype (by Nimbostratue, 2011)
=======================================================================


Here is how to practice the 1000 most common words lesson in an effective way.

I place the 1000 words in Amphetype and use settings that will generate two lines of text like this:
   "the of to the of to the of to and a in and a in and a in is it you is it
   you is it you that he was that he was that he was"

I set the program to allow me to keep practicing until I reach a certain desired accuracy and speed (see below).
When I pass this threshold I am allowed to continue to type the next 2 lines from the 1000 words.
In this way I learn the layout and practice the common words and bigrams (th,st,nt,ou,io,ea, etc)at the same time.

In fact I do not type the 1000 words most of the time. What I type is the first 130 to 150 words.
Then I start again from the beginning and increase the threshold by an extra +10 WPM.

In theory and my practice (I have tried this method with over 20 layouts) you should be able to advance every day by 6-10 WPM until 50 WPM. Once I practiced for only 2 hours every day using this method, and I was advancing 6+ WPM each day. So you do not need to spend too much time typing in the beginning when you learn a layout. You should focus on increasing your muscle memory for the common bigrams and common words, which will help you increase your speed quickly. This way will not train you for individual keys, it will train you for common bigrams and you will notice that you become much faster at typing bigrams than remembering key positions, but with the other lessons in my lessons thread you can improve on this. I usually use this method exclusively until I reach 28-30 WPM and then I start the other lengthy lessons in the lessons thread.


Amphetype settings:

1) On the Preferences tab set "Try to limit text and lesson to between 100 and 100 characters".

2) On the Lesson Generator tab:
   "In generating lessons, I will make 3 copies of the list below and divide them into sublists of size 3"
   The program will create either a single or multiple copies of each word interleaved according to the selection made.

   For example if you pasted the text "about the" and chose X,Y (I usually chose 3,3 or 3,4) you get
      2,2 --> about the about the
      2,1 --> about about the the

   Paste in the 1000 words (below), name the lesson at the bottom and click "Add to Sources" to save it.

3) On the Sources tab set "Repeat texts that don't meet the following requirements:"
      WPM              your average speed (e.g., for 2 min at hi-games) + 10 WPM
      Accuracy         99 or 100%
   Set the lesson fields to the same values.

   Select to get new lessons "In Order".

   Choose your lesson from the Sources pane on the left and double-click on it to start typing.
   Keep typing each line until you pass the threshold. Do not hit Esc to skip any lines.


The 1000 most common English words (From the web):

the of to and a in is it you that he was for on are with as I his they be at one have this from or had by hot word but what some we can out other were all there when up use your how said an each she which do their time if will way about many then them write would like so these her long make thing see him two has look more day could go come did number sound no most people my over know water than call first who may down side been now find any new work part take get place made live where after back little only round man year came show every good me give our under name very through just form sentence great think say help low line differ turn cause much mean before move right boy old too same tell does set three want air well also play small end put home read hand port large spell add even land here must big high such follow act why ask men change went light kind off need house picture try us again animal point mother world near build self earth father head stand own page should country found answer school grow study still learn plant cover food sun four between state keep eye never last let thought city tree cross farm hard start might story saw far sea draw left late run don't while press close night real life few north open seem together next white children begin got walk example ease paper group always music those both mark often letter until mile river car feet care second book carry took science eat room friend began idea fish mountain stop once base hear horse cut sure watch color face wood main enough plain girl usual young ready above ever red list though feel talk bird soon body dog family direct pose leave song measure door product black short numeral class wind question happen complete ship area half rock order fire south problem piece told knew pass since top whole king space heard best hour better true . during hundred five remember step early hold west ground interest reach fast verb sing listen six table travel less morning ten simple several vowel toward war lay against pattern slow center love person money serve appear road map rain rule govern pull cold notice voice unit power town fine certain fly fall lead cry dark machine note wait plan figure star box noun field rest correct able pound done beauty drive stood contain front teach week final gave green oh quick develop ocean warm free minute strong special mind behind clear tail produce fact street inch multiply nothing course stay wheel full force blue object decide surface deep moon island foot system busy test record boat common gold possible plane stead dry wonder laugh thousand ago ran check game shape equate hot miss brought heat snow tire bring yes distant fill east paint language among grand ball yet wave drop heart am present heavy dance engine position arm wide sail material size vary settle speak weight general ice matter circle pair include divide syllable felt perhaps pick sudden count square reason length represent art subject region energy hunt probable bed brother egg ride cell believe fraction forest sit race window store summer train sleep prove lone leg exercise wall catch mount wish sky board joy winter sat written wild instrument kept glass grass cow job edge sign visit past soft fun bright gas weather month million bear finish happy hope flower clothe strange gone jump baby eight village meet root buy raise solve metal whether push seven paragraph third shall held hair describe cook floor either result burn hill safe cat century consider type law bit coast copy phrase silent tall sand soil roll temperature finger industry value fight lie beat excite natural view sense ear else quite broke case middle kill son lake moment scale loud spring observe child straight consonant nation dictionary milk speed method organ pay age section dress cloud surprise quiet stone tiny climb cool design poor lot experiment bottom key iron single stick flat twenty skin smile crease hole trade melody trip office receive row mouth exact symbol die least trouble shout except wrote seed tone join suggest clean break lady yard rise bad blow oil blood touch grew cent mix team wire cost lost brown wear garden equal sent choose fell fit flow fair bank collect save control decimal gentle woman captain practice separate difficult doctor please protect noon whose locate ring character insect caught period indicate radio spoke atom human history effect electric expect crop modern element hit student corner party supply bone rail imagine provide agree thus capital won't chair danger fruit rich thick soldier process operate guess necessary sharp wing create neighbor wash bat rather crowd corn compare poem string bell depend meat rub tube famous dollar stream fear sight thin triangle planet hurry chief colony clock mine tie enter major fresh search send yellow gun allow print dead spot desert suit current lift rose continue block chart hat sell success company subtract event particular deal swim term opposite wife shoe shoulder spread arrange camp invent cotton born determine quart nine truck noise level chance gather shop stretch throw shine property column molecule select wrong gray repeat require broad prepare salt nose plural anger claim continent oxygen sugar death pretty skill women season solution magnet silver thank branch match suffix especially fig afraid huge sister steel discuss forward similar guide experience score apple bought led pitch coat mass card band rope slip win dream evening condition feed tool total basic smell valley nor double seat arrive master track parent shore division sheet substance favor connect post spend chord fat glad original share station dad bread charge proper bar offer segment slave duck instant market degree populate chick dear enemy reply drink occur support speech nature range steam motion path liquid log meant quotient teeth shell neck

• I believe my biggest advantage in typing is that I do not necessarily use the same finger to type the same key. I use whichever finger is most comfortable, which can vary based on the context of the letters in the word. I cannot completely explain what I'm doing since I have been doing it since my childhood and it comes naturally, but I do tend to use whichever finger is closest based on the positioning of my hands typing the other letters in the word.

• Additionally, if you want to increase your speed, do not type each word at uniform speed. Speed through the easier words and take a little more time on the harder words to ensure accuracy. Always focus on the word after the word you are currently typing so there are no unnatural pauses in your typing.

• I recommend using caps lock instead of shift to type capital letters to allow more flexibility in the hand that you would normally use shift with.