Ryan Galiotto

Archive for the ‘Sports and Leisure’ Category

Being the oldest brew in the world, the art of homebrewing and the hundreds of time-proven recipes had more than enough time to evolve. Homebrewing today is a hobby and an art form.

As people moved into cities, household beer production began to decline. It is only in the recent years homebrewing once again became popular thanks to the thousands of hobbyists. Quite of few of which even grew their hobby into a business.

Having an aura of ancient times with a touch of mystery, each recipe tells its own story, it is no wonder that brewing your own beer has a lot of appeal to people on a search of a hobby. Of course, it also helps if you like to drink beer as well.

Homebrewing requires very little initial investment, and you dont have to spend your first year studying and perfecting your technique before you get decent results. Even with the simplest recipe you can have your own beer within a month. Usually its all about getting the initial tools and the supplies that you will use on your first several batches.

For the beginner or in case youre not certain about this hobby, buy one of the entry level starter kits. The cost of such kits is very reasonable, starting at as low as $39US to a more advanced starter kits for $100US and up.

You will feel great about your new hobby when you see the look of surprise on your friends’ faces. Surely, they expected to taste an awful concoction, but instead sipped a commercial-quality brew. The beauty of homebrewing is that you can always find new exciting recipes on the net, or in a good recipe book. Or you can try to create your own unique beer by testing different ingredients.

As the homebrewing industry grows, competition rises and prices get lower than ever. Today, when looking for an affordable hobby, homebrewing can seriously be considered as an option. With the high competition you will have no problem finding a vendor that would offer you the best deal and shipping terms.

Getting yourself a sports equipment or gear always needs scrutinizing especially if the equipment or gear plays a major role in your performance. In the case of water sports and in particular, getting yourself a wetsuit, your choice may depend largely on what you are looking for in your suit. You may just want to have that top of the line wetsuit, or you can check for the quality and material that you prefer without having to pay too much for it.

Especially if you are looking for a triathlon wetsuit or scuba diving wetsuit which requires some special features, you should check the quality and the materials that make up your wetsuit so you will know what fits you.

Some of the important things to check when getting a new wetsuit are flexibility of the suit, the comfort it gives and the warmth it provides. Of course, the cost and style would also be considerations after you have examined the more important aspects of the suit. Here are some basic information on wetsuit quality and materials.

Wetsuits are made of neoprene. Although this material is generally flexible, the flexibility of wetsuits varies from the type of neoprene being used and this may vary from brand to brand and from models to models.

The most flexible neoprene is called the super stretch neoprene. It is also easier to determine the quality and flexibility of your wetsuit when it comes to super stretch neoprene as it is determined by the percentage used in the wetsuit. A wetsuit could have 30%, 60% or 100 % super stretch neoprene on it.

Of course, the more super stretch material your wetsuit has, the higher is its price, so wetsuits are made in different combinations of materials to suit any budget, flexibility requirement and skill level of the user.

If you are still starting out with your water sport, you may want to settle for some wetsuits that are less expensive and start with a 10% or 30% super stretch wetsuit. The more flexible parts of these suits usually are the portions on the shoulders, the arms and on the back of the knee.

For more experienced users, a 60% super stretch or a 100% super stretch wetsuit can be ideal although the choice largely depends on your budget.

Wetsuit manufacturers have even incorporated other materials to add more flexibility and comfort to wetsuits. It is not uncommon to see wetsuits having lycra, spandex or Merino wool in them for added comfort and flexibility.

The son of legendary racer (and DIRT Motorsports Hall of Famer) Emil “Buzzy” Reuitman, David Reutimann is the third generation in his family to take up the sport, sometimes racing with his father at Florida’s East Bay Raceway Park (known as the Clay by the Bay by fans).

He started as a dirt track racer and moved his way up into the ranks of NASCAR racers, being the 1997 Rookie of the Year in the Slim Jim All Pro Series as well as 2004’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Rookie of the Year. With many top ten finishes, although few wins, Reutimann is a racer to watch.

In 2005, he won the Toyota Tundra 200 in Nashville and in 2007, he moved to the Nextel Cup Series where he won the 2007 Sam’s Town 250 in Memphis for his first win in the Busch Series car. He ran the full Busch Series schedule in 2007 and finished second in the standings.

Since joining the NASCAR Southeast Series in 1997, Reutimann has been the winner of several awards. He spent a long time preparing on Florida’s many short tracks, where he was an avid modified racer.

For the last few years, he has been racing in the Nationwide Series as well as the Sprint Cup series for Michael Waltrip Racing. He hasn’t achieved the level of success of some NASCAR stars, but he has been a consistently high performing racer with top finishes in a lot of the sport’s most important races.

In 2009, David Reutimann has named one of his old racing peers as his crew chief for his No. 00 Toyota car, Rodney Childers, who first met him back during the 1999 Slim Jim All Pro race. Childers sites David Reutimann’s sense of humor and personality as a reason he searched out the position, when it became available.

NASCAR fans would be well advised to watch Reutimann this year; he has built up a lot of momentum and his crew and some racing experts predict that he will bring in some top ten and top five finishes this year, perhaps even some wins.

With this being Rodney Childers fifth season as a crew chief on the Sprint Cup level, it may be the advantage that Michael Waltrip Racing and David Reutimann need. The relationship with Toyota and NASCAR is a promising future because of their commitment to the racing world and faith in the team.

David Reutimann may not be the first racer who comes to mind when thinking of NASCAR, but this year may change things. Reutimann will be sharing driving duties on Number 00, Aaron’s Dream Machine. Fans are eager to see the return of Waltrip to racing as well as interested in how well Reutimann will perform.

With top 10 finishes in the Nationwide Series and ever better performance in the Sprint Cup, Waltrip racing is excited about David Reutimann’s prospects in the upcoming season.

No doubt, if you have an athlete involved in youth baseball today, he has experienced some disappointment. Thats ok, its part of athletics; it builds character. The problem I want to dissect here is how and why these game to game disappointments sometimes turn into prolonged slumps, or long-term struggles.

The game to game disappointments athletes often experience are usually the result from a particular skill that isnt developed as well as it could be. Long-term slumps on the other hand, are caused by much more complex issues. Long-term struggles are generally caused from a combination of physical skill inabilities as well as confidence problems and self-doubt. Those two problems (physical and mental) occurring at the same time can be devastating to a players game.

Before I talk about how to solve a long-term slump, its important to understand how small game-to-game failures grow into full blown long-term slumps. Its really a simple concept to understand. Your mind records images of your performances, especially if the performance is accompanied by a strong emotion. If the performance is poor, the mind will save the image of your poor performance in your short-term memory allowing you to review it over and over again. The problem gets tough when the amount of negative images pile up in the short-term memory.

When a collection of small negative images flood the minds eye, it caused extreme emotions in the athlete. The longer the player experiences these emotions, the greater chance there is for a long-term slump to occur. There are a couple ways to tackle this problem. One is physical practice, and the other is mental practice. For now, Ill give you the mental skill set you need to avoid slumps.

The solution to fixing a struggling mental game is to change the mental image your mind has stored. Instead of seeing the failure or series of failures, begin to see those failures turn into successes. Rather than seeing yourself strike out looking at bat, see yourself hit the pitch into the left-center gap for a double. Rather than seeing yourself make an error in the infield, see yourself backhand the ball and throw out the runner at first base. This skill is a bit tricky and strange at first since you are essentially lying to your brain. But, with time and frequent practice, youll be able to lessen the impact of failures and experience continued growth as an athlete.

As an outfitter one would assume that the amount that is paid for a guided trip would be incentive enough for hunters to make sure they are fully prepared for the hunt. Yet every year it is surprising the number of hunter’s who show up not fully prepared. They show up unprepared even when they have been sent rifle sighting instructions and clothing and equipment lists and area topography maps. This lack of preparedness can take many forms including; not being in physical shape for the demands of the hunting area, the lack of proper sighting in of weapons, and lack of proper clothing for hunting conditions etc.

The focus of this article is how to properly dress for the hunt. This dress code will help all prepare to meet the potentially extreme weather conditions that can occur in the rugged mountains of northern Idaho or other parts of the rocky mountain west during the fall / winter hunting seasons. During this time of year you will need to be prepared for extreme changes in weather conditions including; hot dry weather, rain, sleet, and cold conditions with deep snow.

Being properly dressed is often overlooked. Proper dress is for your safety as well as your added hunting enjoyment. Dressing properly is an essential part of the hunt.

To help you prepare here are some clothing suggestions that will be of benefit. The key to staying comfortable in the backcountry is dressing in layers. You will want clothing that will transport chilling perspiration moisture away from your skin and trap a layer of dead air around your body. The emphasis on clothes to bring should be placed on layering. Please avoid the one layer does all, in clothing for the hunt. For example a snowmobile suit protects people from the elements who are not moving enough to generate their own body heat, however once they start the slightest movement excessive sweating occurs inside the garment. Once the garment is soaked the process of wicking heat away form the body occurs. This battle of the sweat/freeze cycle is induced by improper layering of clothes and is a battle that will be lost and one you want to avoid. Also during your hunt it is very important that you pay attention to your food and water intake for energy and hydration and that you monitor your clothing needs very closely. Before you break out in a sweat it is wise to delete at least one layer. Conversely once you stop activity it is important that you have a warmer layer to put on.

LAYER 1 The first layer wicks moisture away from skin by absorbing it and moving it toward the outer layers. Appropriate garments are thermal underwear made of polypropylene or capaline. Underwear should be quick drying, durable, of medium weight and contour fitting. Avoid the use loose fitting garments for your first layer.

LAYER 2 The second layer continues to move moisture away from the skin. It also provides warmth by trapping dead air around the body. Appropriate garments include; wool, pile, or fleece tops and bottoms and wool , pile or fleece shirts and sweaters.

LAYER 3 This layer provides protection from the outside elements of wind, rain and snow. Some clothes in this category are referred to as Waterproof/ Breathable garments (i.e. Gor-tex) because they continue moisture movement away from the body.

Suggestions for Clothing For warm weather conditions cotton is comfortable and ok however for cold weather conditions cotton does not wick and absorbs moisture and should be avoided. (There is a saying in Alaska that cotton has killed more people than grizzly bears). Remember the weather can change very quickly. For cold weather conditions the following is suggested; Inner Layer Thermal Underwear / Polypropylene or capline Thermal liners for socks Thermal liners for gloves Insulation Layer Marino Wool socks Shirts and sweaters / Wool, Fleece, Pile. Pants / Wool, Fleece Protective Layer Pants / Wool, Gloves, 2 pair with liners Hat with ear protection Jacket, wool or Gore-Tex Rain Gear, Gore-Tex Boots / water proof treated Gore-tex lined Packs with felt liner for snow, include Gaiters for wet conditions or deep snow.

Please note the weather in northern Idaho for September Archery Season is usually warm days, cool nights or possible rain conditions and light snow. The October Rifle Season can include clear warm days, cool nights, rain or snow. The November Muzzleloader season is usually clear cold days, sleet, or deep snow. The Spring Bear Season can include clear hot or warm days, cool nights, rain, sleet or snow. The Mt. Lion season is usually clear cold days, sleet, snow and deep snow. For the Archery, Muzzleloader, Spring Bear and Mt. Lion seasons please wear the appropriate camo clothes or hunter orange as dictated by game state game regulations. For the rifle season please wear appropriate amount of hunter orange as dictated by the state regulations. Including both a hat and vest.

In conclusion, the law for a safe and comfortable hunt is dressing in proper layers.

Have A Great Hunt Tom Loder Panhandle Outfitters Inc. 888-300-HUNT(4868)

Even if you end up mortgaging your home to purchase the most best golf equipment this side of Scotland and you plan to play on top notch golf courses, it will be an exercise in vain with your time and money if you don’t consider the other side of the golf coin: quality golf instruction. For the beginner golfer, this is must-have equipment alongside your drivers and putters.

Those lessons may come in the form of public group lessons (at a much reduced rate) or private lessons with a pro. A combination of both is ideal because you get to struggle with others and you get a chance to hone in on your individual weaknesses.

Taking private lessons from a professional has clear advantages: let’s face it, if you are paying $40-130 per hour learning how to play the game, you will do what you can when you’re not with the pro to improve your skill. A pro can take you further than a friend or family member could ever take you.

Secondly, the local pro can objectively critique your swing and mannerisms on the course. Your friends will not be as free after the thirtieth or fiftieth correction (in normal relationships). Also, the local pro will strengthen your strengths while getting you over your weaknesses. Getting encouragement from a professional goes further than your longest drive in the confidence game.

Thirdly, the pro you choose is an experienced professional. This is the profession he has chosen to excel in. He’s good at the game and he teaches others for a living; that should say something. The local course pro has been good enough to be called a professional, so that person had to be good (if you don’t think the value for your money’s, select someone else).

There are a whole host of instructors who would be willing to teach beginning golfers the art and skill of driving a ball 250 yards or chipping the ball out of the bunker. To be fair, though, not all pros are good teachers, and that’s something you will need to think about too.

Lastly, a pro will help you with your stance, grip, swing, control, follow through, aim, strategy, club selection, and game psychology. You will be able to enjoy the game more fully. The professional instructor is normally worth the extra money you spend to learn the game.

Budget a quality golf professional into the game strategy when you’re first learning how to play. He (or she) is a welcome addition to the golf gear you have so carefully placed in your designer bag.

Ever wonder why some guys catch more fish than others? There are several reasons this could be. The right location, the right lures, and you being quiet are the keys to success. Some folks never think about how being quiet may hurt their odds of catching fish.

Staying silent and quiet during the fishing time is what I have been telling my clients who want to learn fishing. Fishing is just like hunting animals. You must stay quiet and calm if you do not want to startle them and let them run farther away from you. This is also applicable to fishing. If you want to catch big trout or redfish, you would really keep your calmness and you would never do such things that may scare the fish away. Even those people who are with you in the boat should also give importance to silence.

Another important thing to consider is the location. Locating fish is quite hard most of the time. If you want to fish for more trout, or if you want to catch more fish in just one site, look for the best location to fish. The best location that I can advice you is the one in the off-colored water. I noticed that when I drop the bait at off-colored water, more fish are getting aggressive to feed on it.

Off-colored water does not mean muddy water or dirty water. Clear water makes the fish see you because of their visibility, but on off-colored water, their visibility becomes less, leading you to more hook ups. But I like better the grass flats for fishing.

When I go fishing on the grass flat, I would rather wait for the tides. As the tide rises, the fish will come as well into the flats. On the deeper water, I use the Sea Devils by Brown Lures in the Amber color. Sometimes the Redfish would ignore the lures on the flats. What I usually do is to toss a hook right beside them and once they smell the lures, they will surely feed on it. This was the fishing experiences I have at the Matagorda Bay System.

See you all there this summer.

Living an active life makes a person fit and healthy. Movement and activity are essential to everyone who wants to stay fit and not limited to only those with weight problems.

The world presents lots of opportunities to get moving, like jogging around the block or playing sports with friends and family. But if you aspire to do something more specific than being generally healthy, such as building muscle mass, then the gym is the best place to be.

Why people go to the gym

There are three reasons why people go to the gym:

* They want to lose excess weight and can’t seem to do it without doing an intense stint at the gym-and eating sensibly, of course.

* They are hoping to build muscle mass by lifting weights and doing other intensive exercises.

* They just want to stay in shape and enjoy the social interaction at the same time.

* A well-balanced fitness program should include cardiovascular and weight training exercises. These programs burn up a lot of calories and increase muscle-to-fat ratio to raise your metabolic rate to gain or lose weight.

What You Can Expect To Gain

1. Ward off many illnesses and slow the aging process.

2. Control the production of stress hormones like cortisol and exchange it for endorphins, which will infuse you with good feelings.

3. A person engaged in an active lifestyle lives longer than one who is inactive and sedentary.

Reaching your fitness goal will not happen over night. You will need to work your way toward total fitness by gradually stepping up your workout routine. A reasonable fitness program will allow you to reach your goals over time and offers extraordinary rewards.

Eating your way to good health

No fitness regimen would be complete without a quality diet behind it. Maintaining your diet is often the hardest part of getting fit and staying that way, but regular exercise can help make it easier. The two work together to make your body strong and healthy.

A good eating and exercise regimen will get your body functioning at maximum setting without supplements and costly gym equipment. Bear in mind that dieting doesn’t require you to starve yourself. You can eat portions of your favorite foods. Just be sure to burn those extra calories through regular exercise.

Eat primarily foods that are high in vitamins and fiber. Good sources of these include potatoes, rice, nuts, and whole grains. The easiest and most efficient way to get your nutrients is by eating fruits and veggies, which supply you with phytochemicals. These substances are made up of micronutrients and enzymes and are indispensable to your health.

Those fats found in fish and vegetables, mono- and poly-unsaturated fats, are also important to include in your diet. Animal fats, which are associated with health problems like heart disease, should be avoided. Just remember that fat can potentially increase the calories in the food you eat by up to two times.

Choose clean living

If you smoke or take alcohol, then you must quit at once. Smoking causes lung cancer as well as creates complications in pregnant women. Excessive drinking likewise causes liver disease and hypertension.

Good habits do not form overnight, just like bad ones take more than a few days to break. Just be patient and you will find that your new habits are taking root and becoming an incontrovertible part of your life.

Here we will review some great exercises that you can with dumbbells. Don’t think you need to have a gym membership to get into shape, read on and you will see how dumbbells can get you into shape.

First we will take the chest presses. This is a favorite exercise for many people, you lay on a bench with a dumbbell in each hand and press them up over your chest until the touch above your chest and then lower them back down.

Now lets move onto to biceps. Biceps are a simple muscle to workout, you just stand with arms down to your side and then curl them up towards your shoulders but make sure your elbows don’t move.

Now we will look at the shoulders. The shoulder press is when you press the dumbbells above the head and then lower them back down, not letting your arms go past parallel to the floor.

The shoulder can also be worked in another way. We can do lateral raises to develop the side delts and front raises to work the anterior part of the shoulder.

Now on to the triceps. We will do simple kickbacks where you kneel on a bench and then extend you arm until it is straight.

To get a good back workout you will need a bench. You put one knee on the bench and then pull the weight up to your chest.

All these exercises can be done with dumbbells from you home. To avoid a mess of many dumbbells you might want to consider buying adjustable dumbbells. Adjustable dumbbells will allow you to save more space in your house while still providing you with all the weight needed to do a variety of exercises.

Horse riding saddles, which is also referred to as equestrian saddles, are seats attached on the horses back to support the rider. Riders use saddles for security and comfort when riding a horse. Before, saddles are just made of some sort of padding or protection secured by a surcingle. Today, saddles have more elaborate designs.

There is a wide array of horse riding saddles. They differ in the way they are structured as they differ in utility. There are English saddles, Stock saddles, military saddles, Asian saddles, endurance saddles, and many others.

There are four basic types of horse riding saddles, which are probably the most popular saddles today. These are the dressage saddle, hunt seat saddle, cutback saddle and the Western saddle.

The dressage saddle is an English saddle that is designed with a deep seat, long stirrups, and long and straight saddle flaps with a slight bend in the knee. It has a higher cantle and pommel and a knee block that is usually pronounced. This type of saddle is used by riders in a discipline called dressage, in which the rider sits upright and in a more relaxed position.

A hunt seat saddle is also a type of English saddle but its structure is quite opposite to that of the dressage saddle. This is so because hunt seat saddle is used in disciplines that involve jumping. This saddle is designed with a flat seat, short stirrups, low cantle, low pommel and knee rolls with padding. What makes it so different from others is its forward-cut flap.

Also known as jumping saddle, forward seat and close contact saddle, hunt seat saddle is very popular. Riders use hunt seat saddle in show jumping, hunt seat equitation, fox hunting as well as in stadium and cross-country phases of eventing.

There is also the cutback saddle, which also belongs to English saddles. This saddle is sometimes referred to as saddle seat saddle, Park or Lane Fox. It is designed with a seat that is longer and flatter than the seats on hunt seat saddles or dressage saddles. Also, it has wide front-to-back flaps, long stirrups and cut back pommel.

Western saddle, commonly known as cowboy saddle, is a popular saddle particularly in the western part of United States. It is used for Western riding and on working horses on cattle ranches. This saddle differs from other saddles because it is designed with a horn where riders tie or dally a cow.

Western saddles, unlike the English saddles, have no padding between the trees and the external leather and fleece skirting. They have deep seats and high cantles. And to absorb the shock of roping, Western saddles are designed with heavy and substantial trees.