Holiday Gift Guide!

Ryan Greenspan • Nov 23, 2016
Paintball-Gift-bag

 

The holiday spirit has been sneaking into our lives ever since the day you threw your rotten pumpkin in the trash (if you haven’t done that yet, you need to put on your hazmat suit and get that furry jack-o-lantern in the trash, ASAP!).  Now we are planning process of what to get our friends and families for this years festivities.  I don’t claim to be an expert on what your loved ones want, but I can tell you from experience what I would want.  I know this cause the items below have been tested and used relentlessly by yours truly and these are some of my favorite things that I think ANYONE would love to get!

So, lets have a look at some of my favorite things from some sponsors and some friends!  We have a few great picks from the whole spectrum.  Whether you like paintball, travel or you just want something casual to look cool in, I have some of the recommendations below for every look and feel!  We have gifts from sunglass company William Painter , the GoPro pole by my friends over at Spivo stick , casual and performance gear from HK ARMY , snacks from KIND Snacks, my favorite cleats from Under Armour  and of course, the creme de la creme, my Signature Series CS1 from Planet Eclipse.  Enjoy the read!

A Pro Clinic is hands down the best way to improve your game.  Hands on teaching will put you leaps and bounds ahead of your  competition! If you have the opportunity to go, jump on it!

Ryan Greenspan

Pro Paintball Clinic

Pro-paintball-clinics

For over a decade I have been teaching pro clinics around the world to thousands of players of all skill levels.  This is one of the most rewarding aspects of my career, helping to make players better.  Whether someone is looking to make it to the next level in their game, gain confidence on and off the field or they just want to come and brush up on some skills to have more fun, a Pro Clinic is the best way to make that happen.

I have taught players from all skill levels and all ages.  A dedicated and talented few have not only made it to the pro level, but one player has even played along side of me on Dynasty and won his fair share of championship events with the team.  This is a testament to what we teach at these clinics.  The Pro Schools are for EVERYONE!  I cannot stress the importance of jumping on an opportunity to sign up for one of these events when they come around!  Here are some upcoming clinics that I have scheduled for last minute gift shoppers!!!

Check out the Boston Paintball Combine being held in Boston AND Florida over the next two months.

I will also be in the Dominican Republic for two events in January if anyone wants to beat the winter weather and get tropical with me!!

Check back on my clinics page regularly for updates on when and where I will be!

Under Armour

Highlight cleats
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Under Armour Paintball Cleats

Under Armour’s Highlight Cleat

Lets kick it off with an important piece of your kit, your cleats!  I get footwear questions all the time and I know a lot of this is personal preference.  In my experience, the most common cleat type is a soccer cleat.  They are lightweight, small and, at the end of the day, soccer is the worlds most played sport which means that there area a lot of options when it comes to this this type of cleat on the market.  However, my personal problem with a small soccer cleat is the lack of ankle support.  We can all agree here that paintball fields are not as well maintained as an actual soccer field, or for that matter, any type of professional competition field.  There are some small exceptions out there, but mainly we are playing on varying terrains with rocks, holes and soft spots.  This brings me to overemphasize the importance of mid to high top cleats.  This is why I like these full size Highlight cleats from Under Armour.  I have had some ankle injuries in the past and I like to think that I am fully healed, but I still really like the notion that my ankles are somewhat supported.  It is safe to say that  UA really knows what they’re doing in this whole cleat business.  Not to mention, these things look badass!

Spvio Stick

spivo-stick-gopro-mount

If I were to go in any order then that would be too easy and boring.  So, I am following up my cleat recommendation with my personal favorite travel item, the SPIVO Stick.  If you have seen any of my recent videos , you may already know about this must have GoPole for your GoPro.  Now, I may use it exclusively with my GoPro, however the genius in this selfie stick isn’t just that it spins 180 degrees as I show in this video here.  Also, it can fit any camera with a tripod adaptor/mount.  They also have a cell phone holder that mounts to the front as well.  The idea is that you can shoot continuous video while narrating and talking, then with the push of a button the camera spins around to show your audience what it is that you are talking about.  I am sure that you can understand why I LOVE this product.  This makes the editing process much easier.  Here is a link to my World Cup walkthrough which features Spivo’s spinning capabilities.

Spivo Stick review from Ryan Greenspan

If you’re like me and you have your GoPro with you at all times, this is a MUST HAVE ITEM!  Check out Spivo’s website and use PROMO CODE: RGSAVEDYOU15 at checkout for 15% off the Spivo Stick.  I use the medium length pole.

 

HK ARMY

Signature Series Shirts
Signature-series-stripes-smile
Ryan-Greenspan-signature-circle-close

This section may not be as practical as the previous few suggestions, BUT I think we are all in agreement that we want to look good at all times, right?  Well, thanks to my awesome friends over at HK ARMY , I got to design my own signature line of dry fit shirts in two distinct styles.  My nautical themed blue stripe shirt came after the quasi-successful sailing trip I did a while back.  Our “Fandango’ red striped crew shirts were such a big hit that, after several requests, I felt compelled to create something new.  Although, not guaranteed to make you a skilled sailor, this shirt is still easily guaranteed to make you look the part.  Also, a home run for non water affiliated people just as well!

My black “Sphere” shirt is a culmination of years worth of signature series gun designs.  If you look carefully at the center logo, you will see all sorts of hidden images throughout the crystal pattern. This theme is common on my past few guns.  Along with palm trees, sea monsters, sailboats, elephants and airplanes, you will find some of my favorite things hidden in and around the pattern.  This is also the theme behind my signature series headbands as well, also available from HK ARMY and ANS Gear.

greenspan-headband

Ryan Greenspan signature series headband

William Painter

The Hook
William painter bottle opening sunglasses

In my opinion, one of the greatest innovations of the modern era.  The ability to open bottles with your sunglasses (for real, check out this video ) should go right up there with bluetooth, the iPod and Facebook, and lets not forget about 2013’s  cronut (seriously voted Time Magazine’s top 25 inventions in 2013, come on, it was a donut mixed with a croissant…).  Let me digress.   William Painter , a company started in San Diego by a couple of friends with one great idea has boomed into a stylish sunglass company with some of the most, if not the most, durable sunglasses on the market.  These glasses are made from Aerospace grade titanium and have  some sort of crazy Japanese Nylon polarized lenses.  The glasses are so durable that these guys offer a 100% lifetime guarantee on them!  That right there shows their commitment to the quality of these sunnies.  There are currently five styles of glasses offered in various lens colors and now with or without polarized lenses.

Ryan-Greenspan-Hook-william-painter

Planet Eclipse

Signature Series CS1
Ryan-Greenspan-CS1

How best to celebrate the holidays, savings and beauty all at once than to get your hands on my latest masterpiece from Planet Eclipse.  A lot has gone into the evolution of my signature series line of markers and products.  Personally, I think this one has taken the cake when it comes to accents and design.  That, coupled with the actual design and functionality of the CS1, I can’t recommend this one more.  Not much can be said that hasn’t already been said about how kick ass this gun is.  Let’s not forget that these are extremely limited and won’t be around for long…

You can visit ANS Gear,  directly to get your hands on one for yourself.  Or, if you’re lucky, I might have one for sale personally if you know how to get ahold of me!

PB Swag Bag

PBSwagBag

Let’s talk swag for a second here.  I love variety, I like getting rad stuff all the time, I think everyone can agree that new cool stuff all the time is, well, cool.  My friends over at PB SWAG BAG have introduced a monthly subscription to the paintball world.  Each month they deliver a new Swag Bag to your door for a modest price.  The retail value of the actual bag far outweighs the monthly subscription and shipping price, so it is safe to say that the swag you get is a creaming deal! Also, they make sure that you never get the same items twice AND as an added value, each month every current member is entered into a contest to win a big ticket monthly item.  In October some lucky swag bagger got their hands on my signed limited edition camo Dynasty jersey.

Push Paintball

Weekend Duffle
Paintball-Gift-bag
Push-paintball-gear-bags

So, now that we have made it to the end of the gift guide and you are loaded up on all this new booty, what are you going to put all it in when you need to shlep it around with you?  Funny I should ask for you, my old friends from PUSH Paintball have just absolutely KILLED it with their new line of bags!  As you can see from the above photo, their standard duffel (my new go to for extended travel) is big enough to fit a good amount of gear and it is a very simple design.  This actually may transition into my day bag for practices.  I hate the large paintball gear bags because they take up so much room in my car when we are going to practice.  Don’t get me wrong, 50% of my paintball playing involves traveling, so a big bag is essential, however most of you don’t need a travel bag, you just need something simple to get you to and from the field on a weekend! That is why I love this bag here.  A rugged simple duffel bag, as simple as that.  Push also a handful of other rad bag designs from gun cases to backpacks with waterproof sleeves.  They even provide cool little accent pieces and a bottle opener with the luggage (not that you’ll need one after you get the Hooks from WP).

The post Holiday Gift Guide! appeared first on Ryan Greenspan.

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I had been staring at this PROLON box for nearly three months before I was able to muster up the courage to tackle the five day fast. Actually, I had planned to take it when I received it back in October, but I was also prepping for a little event called World Cup, so I didn't want any distractions nor did I want to possibly have my training hindered by lack of energy or whatever it was that I may feel as I embarked on this journey. Fast forward through a handful of excuses and it was the first week of January and what better time to fast than to kick off the New Year. Like I said, I have wanted to do a full on fast for a long time and this PROLON fast in particular was very appealing for various reasons. This box was tempting, or taunting me for the better part of two months so I had to jump in. I have documented my journey to give you some insight into my joy and pain during the week of my PROLON fast. I do wish I had taken before and after photos/videos, but I was just laser focused on making it through the week to be honest. I will do that on the next fast, if there is one...  Sunday night 158 lbs Day One: Monday morning 156.4 lbs = loss of 1.6lbs Good morning to a new day and a new week supplemented with the PROLON Fast Mimicking Diet. This morning started with a nut bar that offers just about 200 calories and healthy fats to power me through till lunch time. I was slightly uncomfortable around 11am and was ready to start lunch which was slated to be a tomato soup, a small packet of olives and five kale crackers. The meals are understandably small, but today is the big eating day with just over 1000 calories before tomorrow dips below 800 and lower as the week goes on. The test is getting through today and pacing myself to prep for the long haul. Monday night 156 lbs Tuesday morning 154.2 lbs = loss of 1.8lbs Today was for sure the hardest day. Waking up I felt grumpy I felt tired I felt starving! Today was also my worst planned day, breakfast included the L bar (nut bar) then I had lunch planned as a mushroom soup and olives followed by an afternoon snack of olives. However the day's plan didn’t allow me to have my much needed soup for lunch. I had an appointment across the border, in Mexico, for my dog to have her teeth pulled and cleaned. Getting there is never a problem, only about 45 minute drive from my door to the dentist, but the process took about four hours and getting across the border takes another hour and a half or more. I packed both packets of olives but I certainly wasn’t prepared to watch Camille eat two rounds of delicious tacos while I licked the inside of the olive packet dry. I didn’t get home that afternoon until around 4pm and I was doing everything in my power to not be a grouch, I think I did well despite Camille’s attempts to poke at me. This tough day ended up being a bit of a blessing in disguise as I ended up eating my lunch time soup closer to dinner time and my dinner soup was basically a bonus which would inevitably help stave off hunger for tomorrow morning. Rationing the calories is the key to success here. Two days down, three more to go! Tuesday night 154.3 lb Wednesday morning 153.3 lb = loss of 1lb This morning was actually much better than yesterday my energy levels feel like they’re higher and all around I feel better. I wasn’t groggy this morning, I wasn’t even that hungry. The pain that usually sits in the pit of my stomach was nonexistent. However when I open my day three box and look at the menu, I did notice it was a little lighter than previous day’s. I feel like I’ve had a good system and I’ve rationed my meals out pretty well throughout the day. I try to eat my dinner as late as possible and I have really leaned on that little chocolate crisp we get for dessert each night. 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