The Austinot

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Tough Love: My Favorite Fitness Gurus in Austin

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Fitness Coaching Austin

A day in the life (Photo credit: Miles McGriff)

How does fitness fit into your world? In mine, it’s made up of a hundred different choices every day. It’s peaceful, competitive, motivating, social, personal, healing and sometimes a struggle.

Based on several years of fitness coaching and Crossfit in Austin, I’m giving you the quick and dirty intro to three of my favorite fitness business minds. These three are not afraid to kick your butt right into shape. They’re friends to everyone, involved in health and the community, and always prepared to motivate their clients, support local nonprofits, and volunteer their time. They have also each seen me in a moment when I’m “glistening” and probably not feeling very fond of them. Without further ado, here’s my trio of choice. [Read more…]

Austin Involved: Your Opportunity to Make Austin Better

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Austin Community Steelband Volunteer Project

Austin Involved gives members the opportunity to meet great people and make a difference in our community (Credit: Austin Involved)

If you’ve been curious about how you can give back to the Austin community on a regular basis, and simultaneously spend time with like-minded people, I’ve found the organization for you. Austin Involved, a local program run by I Live Here, I Give Here, allows its members to vote for and support one fantastic Austin non-profit every month of the year.

When a non-profit is chosen by Austin Involved’s members, it benefits from a three-hour service project. Members also donate $25 per person each month to the same non-profit. That amount of money equates to what you might [Read more…]

Wells Branch Disc Golf Course Gets Massive Overhaul

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Wells Branch Disc Golf Course

Wells Branch Disc Golf Course (Credit: Travis Wayne Baker)

This guest blog post is by Hunter Stanford.

To only say that the Wells Branch Disc Golf Course got its engine re-tweaked for high performance leaves out the aesthetic changes. But to say that the course got itself an expensive facelift ignores what’s under the hood.

With 18 baskets as opposed to the previous nine, full concrete tee pads and benches, and detailed color signage to boot, the only term for this is a full system upgrade. The bugs have been tweaked and the kinks have been smoothed out. If the beta version didn’t have you convinced, then the alpha version has something to prove. Wells Branch 2.0, welcome home. [Read more…]

Moving Difference 2013 Kicks Off This Week – Who Will You Help?

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Austin Pets Alive Volunteer

This local volunteer helps out at Austin Pets Alive

Moving Difference is back for a second year, and its official kick-off corresponds with the first day of summer: this Friday, June 21st.

For those who missed last year’s coverage, Moving Difference is a loose – but vigorous – movement that encourages individuals to invest one hour of each week during summer into making their community better. Founded here in Austin by Jeny Crouch, Moving Difference went worldwide in its first year. Approximately 62,000 volunteer hours were logged in 2012. The original goal was 1,000.

There aren’t any set rules about how you use your volunteer hour each week from June 21st to September 21st. You can pick up trash, teach a CPR class, bake for a sick neighbor, help a busy friend with childcare, or walk a homeless dog through Austin Pets Alive. It’s as easy as following your passion and doing what you can to make a difference. [Read more…]

3 Reasons to Get Lost at Walnut Creek Park This Summer

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Walnut Creek Park

Walnut Creek Park

Though you couldn’t tell by the heat, summer is officially here in Austin. The colleges have closed their doors and the river is filled daily with kayaks and stand up paddle boards. Since the Austinot has already given you some tips about how to beat the heat in Austin, I’m going to tell you about my favorite park in Austin: Walnut Creek Park.

Walnut Creek Park is a spot of wilderness among Austin’s sprawling northside. Just shy of 300 square acres, the park’s spiderweb of trails criss-cross for miles.

I feel like the protagonist from Heart of Darkness every time I enter the trees. Sometimes I half expect to see Marlon Brando and his skulls upriver when I play fetch with my dog in the water.

There are a million reasons why I love Walnut Creek Park. To save you some time, here are my top three. [Read more…]

Creative Ways to Beat the Heat in Austin: Summer 2013

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This guest blog post is by Matt Champion.

It’s only June and we’re already sweating bullets. With temperatures quickly heading toward every day triple-digits, we’re all going to need our summertime havens.

Austinites have a tendency to be claustrophobic. We love the outdoors and won’t let anything, even the scorching sun, keep us stuck inside all day to mindlessly fiddle with the thermostat.

We all know the standards: Barton Springs, Blues on the Green, the Greenbelt, and the list goes on. But I know we’re getting antsy, so here are some ways to beat the heat in Austin, in addition to our wonderful local traditions.

Pull your head out of your freezer and smile because you live in one of the greatest cities in the nation, regardless of whether or not the summer sun gives you the ability to bake cookies on the dashboard of your car.

“Swimmin’ Hole!”

Krause Springs Swimming Hole

Credit: jessicareeder via Flickr CC

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Krause Springs Swimming Hole Offers Camping, Grilling and Cool Fun

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Entrance to Krause Springs in Spicewood, TX

Entrance to Krause Springs

We can’t get enough of Texas swimming holes in the summertime.

This year, we celebrated the beginning of our swimming hole explorations with a trip to Krause Springs in Spicewood, TX.

Located at 404 Krause Spring Rd., Krause Springs is about an hour from Austin, depending on 71-West congestion. This private Texas Hill Country property offers tent and RV camping, a serene garden, and two different swimming areas. [Read more…]

Wells Branch Disc Golf Course Eventually Wows

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Straight Forward Wells Branch Disc Golf CourseThis guest blog post is by Hunter Stanford.

Wells Branch is a course your grandfather would approve of. No bells, no whistles and it isn’t here to prove anything. Rather, one might consider this disc golf course to be a straight-shooter.

Maybe you’re still scratching your head. My grandfather doesn’t even know what disc golf is. To be clear, the Wells Branch disc golf course is as standard of a course as they come. There’s nothing incredibly hard, easy, varied or zany. Whether that’s a bad thing or not is really up to you and your expectations. [Read more…]

Flyboard in Austin: Ever Want to Fly Like Iron Man?

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Getting ready to flyboard in Austin

Getting ready to fly

Hollywood blockbusters tease our sense of adventure with enticing special effects.

The imagination revs up when we see gadgets like Marty McFly’s hoverboard in Part II and Part III of Back to the Future. Even though the technology may not exist in the real world, our desire to experience the fantastical is alive and well.

Face it. If you could hop on a real hoverboard or jump on the Green Goblin’s “Sky Stick” right here in Austin, wouldn’t you take the shot?

The question isn’t hypothetical. [Read more…]

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