Valeo HW8 8-Pound Neoprene Hand Weights

Neoprene coating provides a comfortable non-slip grip. Helps improve muscle tone and core strength. Enhances all aerobic exercise and fitness training. Available in 2, 3, 5, 8 and 10 lb. weights. Includes exercise wall chart. Sold in pairs
Customer Review: Great dumbbells for the ladies!
I recently bought a pair of these 8-pound dumbbells for my wife and she's very happy with them. The neoprene covering ensures they are quiet, gentle on nearby furniture, attractive, and easy to hang onto. We already have a variety of "manly" cast iron weights, including a 90-pound (each) set of Powerblock dumbbells. However, she typically found these too heavy, intimidating, in the wrong part of the house (my gym), or generally inconvenient to use. The Valeos are the perfect free weight solution for light exercises anywhere in the home.
Customer Review: good buy
The weights came clean, new, and in great condition- the texture of the material is good for keeping a tight grip on the weight. The wait time for the delivery was short and I have no complaints. The price was okay.

How to play second base on a baseball team has been set in stone now for many moons. Take a quick look see at a profile sketch of some of the greats who have made their mark playing the keystone position at second base and you will find that a pattern of needed abilities quickly become evident.

Playing second base and performing at an all-star or championship caliber requires certain defined attributes. An assessment of the needed profile and athletic ability to play second base will be uncovered for you in this article.

The play making abilities which all coaches look for in placement of the player to handle the demanding action at second base are numerous but here are the most prevalent things to be sure about.

Let me just list some for starters:

Great balance and quick footwork

Stout and good upper body strength

Super quick reflexes

Not intimidated by physical colliding contact

Capable of playing tough

Superb body control with throwing power

Here we go with some explanation providing wisdom to those attributes needed by a good second baseman or second sacker or if you like the little fireball who plays the keystone of the infield.

The second baseman is the vital cog which makes those double plays work like a charm. When he fields the hard hit grounder by movement getting in front of the ball, his body is not facing the second base bag. Great balance and quick footwork is required to turn his body. The quick foot movement, turning his body and making a right on the button throw to his shortstop covering the bag, who relays the ball to first for the twin killing.

New scenario this time. The ball is hit to the shortstop. The second baseman is now the relay man to make that rifle shot to first to finish the double play. There are two separate lines of schooling as to how a second baseman should execute the tag of the base and the relay throw to first base. The first way is to take the throw from the shortstop tagging the bag and stepping on through toward third base and whipping the throw side arm or submarine style over to the first baseman. The second method is to take the throw from shortstop tagging the bag with one foot and stepping back away from the bag and letting fly with the ball to first base, again completing the double play.

During each of the twin killing plays properly executed by the second baseman , one thing becomes very obvious regarding the throw from second base on over to first in ample time to beat that fleet footed runner coming from home to first base. Stout and good upper body strength is a must in order to put some zip or steam on that throw. Visualize if you will and the next time out there on the diamond practice those throws from second base. The execution and timing that dictates the throw is entirely done by upper body strength because the body is in no position to add gusto and heft to the throw.

Super quick reflexes are almost self explanatory, have you ever seen the little second sacker lay out grab, that hot grounder heading into right field, come to his feet, quicker than a scalded cat can jump, twist his body while in the air, zing the throw to first and nip that speedy runner by an eyelash?

Do you know what the base runner coming from first to second, when a double play is in progress, has on his mind? Interrupt or delay that relay throw from second base to first base; therefore, stopping the double play. Think for a moment what protection does the second baseman have when taking a throw tagging a bag and getting ready to release his throw to first. He is a very vulnerable easy target for some hard sliding hero athlete to take him down in a heap thus breaking up the chance for that twin killing.

Now you see intimidation of collision and body contact has to be part of the second base playing mental and physical make-up. A timid second baseman is useless in executing double play handling of the second base job. This is not to say that the second baseman should have no retort toward these sliding dynamos coming to take him out of the play.

A tough and ready second baseman can build a reputation around the league if he has the mettle and stamina to back his play with one word tough, hard nosed, tit for tat , give and take. Some of the tactics a second baseman should use to send a loud and clear signal throughout the league of play. No 1- When a base runner by design is going to blast through the bag sending the second baseman sprawling like a sack of shucks then the second baseman should leap high into the air and come down, spikes first, onto the legs of the barrelling base runner.

Another clear signal all second basemen should broadcast to the league is simply this. If they want their hair parted right down the middle then keep on coming high and hard.

Instead of coming in high and hard they will all soon get the message to start their slide early and low; otherwise, the little baseball being turned loose by the second sacker will greet them right between their running lights. This is how you play the game tough but often is necessary defence for the second baseman to protect himself and his play at the keystone.

Body control is to throw with power from any position and make the throw with authority and nip advancing runners. A second baseman has no throw anytime whereby he has the luxury of taking his time, setting his feet, straightening his body and throw out a runner. If he goes to his left, fielding a hard hit grounder in the hole between the second baseman and the first baseman, is it not an awkward body position throwing to first?

A man is on first and third and the hitter is a right hand hitter: the runner on first takes off to steal. The catcher makes the throw to second base being covered by the second baseman and the runner at third heads home. The second baseman is in no ideal position to make that throw home with any real authority on the peg, unless he has very strong body control and throwing power.

Coaches, scouts and fans should choose your All-Star second base players with a keen eye for much needed ability more than that which meets the eye by a casual observance.

Here is one very insightful little tidbit of information brought to my attention only recently. We all know the color barrier breakthrough for black players to play in the National and American Major Leagues was a major item every time each black player was added to a Major League team roster. The last holdout in Major League baseball for adding a black player to their team was the Boston Red Sox and the player filling the last vestige of major league denial was a Second Baseman his name Pumpsie Green.

Batter Up----Let's Play Ball....

Batter Up----Let's Play Ball.... is a signature statement of Major Wiley B. Channell USMC (ret) an Introduction to the concept of baseball farming which includes ideas on strategies, training, and winning! at: http://www.baseballfarming.com

Major Wiley B. Channell USMC (ret) invites you to come visit and learn the five essential elements of Hitting A Baseball at: http://www.baseballfarming.com/BaseballHitting.html

Talk baseball at http://www.baseballfarming.com/ShowAndTell.html this is your contact to us with an opportunity to do some of your baseball talk.

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2008 Topps Series 1 MLB Baseball Cards Box

Topps presents a comprehensive collection of trading cards honoring AmericaâTMs most treasured pastime, with outstanding player selection, classic photography and complete career stats. Topps 2008 Series 1 Hobby Baseball features multiple levels of parallels and inserts, including Autographs, Game-Used Relics and the continuation of the Home Run History sets for Mickey Mantle, Josh Gibson and Alex Rodriguez. 10 cards per pack, 36 packs per box.

One of the great things about blogs is that they are so easy to set up and maintain. The way companies such as Blogger.com have handled it, it's about as easy as typing a letter or any other word processing document.

Another great thing that internet entrepreneurs have discovered is that they are fast and easy to set up, can attract a huge of potential customers, and can make A LOT OF MONEY for the owner of the blog, and we are going to discuss how they do it. In fact, we are going to talk about how almost anyone can set up a blog and be in business on the internet in a matter of hours.

After a start that included soaring, swooping, and gliding in lots of different directions, the internet settled down a bit. Although it is still all things to all people, one of the largest aspects of the internet is its ability to quickly deliver a huge mass of information on almost any subject under the sun.

Most of the millions of people using the internet have one thing in common...they are seeking this information. Whether it is something as significant as alternative energy sources or something as relatively frivolous as the comings and goings of fashion or comic books, there are huge numbers of people searching the internet in hopes of finding this information at any given time. That's where blogs come in.

Many of these people want hard data...facts! Many, however, are content to read, learn, and perhaps interject their own comments on subjects they find interesting. Couple this fact with the simplicity of building a blog, and then add a few income producing links, and you have the basis of a simple internet business.

If you have been unable up to now to believe that you could have a successful internet business, you are now free to change that thought. All it takes is an interest in some subject area; poetry, baseball, cartoons, cars, cooking, stamp collecting, and you too can be an expert with an income producing blog.

WHAT IF YOU ARE NOT AN EXPERT BUT ARE SIMPLY A FAN?

In the world of blogs, this is NOT a problem! The purpose of the blog is to provide information and comment. Nobody said the information or comment had to be YOURS! Of course you will want to participate in your own blog, but there are many web sites on the internet, such as EzineArticles.com which can provide substantive content for your site. Just to use our baseball example, I just did a quick search at EzineArticles.com, and found 175 articles on the subject. By the time you used up all 175, more would have been written, your readers would have provided comments, you would have interjected your own ideas, and other sources of articles and other content on the subject would have come to your attention. Starting with this example, you could run a blog on the subject of baseball for several years with no problem.

HOW DO YOU MAKE MONEY WITH A BLOG?

My first recommendation is that you learn more about blogging for internet income than I can offer in this small article. But don't worry, the subject of blogging as a business is simple and after a little training in blogging and internet marketing, you will be an expert on the subject and may even find yourself teaching other what you have learned. Once you have a grasp of the basics and have begun publishing your blog, you can use the following to help you make money with your blog.

JOIN AFFILIATE PROGRAMS: There are an unknown number of affiliate programs on the internet, ClickBank, PayDotCom, and Commission Junction to name a few. You can find affiliate programs relative to the subject of your blog, and, by placing links to these companies you can make income from your blog.

JOIN GOOGLE ADSENSE: Google Adsense allows you to show ads on your blog which may be of interest to your visitors. Staying with the baseball blog, the ads would have things to do with baseball or sports. You would receive a commission whenever a visitor to your blog left by clicking on one of the ads.

SELL YOUR OWN PRODUCTS: If you have a product to sell which is related to the topic of your blog, this would be a great place to promote it! Many people become regular visitors to interesting blogs and feel that they come to know the blogger who runs it. Any internet or network marketer can tell you that people are more likely to buy something from someone they know and trust than from a stranger.

VISIT OTHER BLOGS AND FORUMS: All across the internet are vast numbers of blogs and forums on almost every subject imaginable. Many people wander from blog to blog or forum to forum in search of information on these subjects, and the more blogs and forums where you leave your footprint, the more that may find their way back to your blog.

LINK BACK FROM RELATIVE SITES: Nobody said that every web site linking to your blog has to be somebody else's! It's great when you get someone to mention your blog on their site, but with a little experience and training, you can possibly learn to create web sites, or perhaps other blogs, which also link to your blog, thus raising its popularity with search engines and perhaps leading live visitors to you.

"PING" YOUR BLOG AND SUBMIT TO DIRECTORIES: People go to blog directories to find blogs on the subjects they are interested in. "Pinging" your blog through services such as pingomatic.com will will alert the services when you have updated your blog.

UPDATE YOUR CONTENT REGULARLY: While you don't have to update your blog daily, you should update it regularly. Use information relative to the blog topic. While information is king, making the information palatable will help improve your blog's popularity.

TURN YOUR CONTENT INTO CONTENT: Huh? This is one of the most effective ways to increase the popularity of your blog, but it is also one of the easiest. Once you get a handle on the sorts of things people are interested in, you may find yourself able to write a few comments of your own. In fact, the daily content and comments on your blog can often be turned into interesting articles of 600 to 1200 words. Once you have done this, submit it to an article directory such as EzineArticles.com. Once accepted, not only will it contain a link back to your blog, but, when others use it on their blog or on their website, there will be another link back to your blog.

Blogs are, simply put, one of the easiest way for computer and internet novices to become involved in the growing world of internet business. If it is your hope to someday kiss the old job good and quit the ratrace, blogging for dollars may just be the answer for you.

The author is retired from the Army after 21 years of service. He has worked as an accountant, purchasing agent, optical lab manager, restaurant manager, instructor and long-haul, over-the-road truck driver. He has been a member of Mensa for several years, and has written and published poetry, essays, and articles on various subjects for the last 40 years. He has been an active internet marketer since 2000, and now makes his living online. He has blogs on the subjects of Internet Business and Marketing, Health and Weight Loss, and Real Estate Investing.

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