Meet People At SXSW ... While Working Out And Losing Weight

South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, TX has become one of the most important conferences of the tech industry, and I’m very excited to attend for my first time (finally).  Our team at ff Venture Capital is hosting for the second time ff MASSIVE, a 2.5 day event (Friday-Sunday) at Empire Control Room & Garage in the heart of downtown Austin. But, here’s the problem: SXSW is famous for a jam-packed schedule, infinite free food and drink, minimal sleep, and radical overstimulation. With the crowds, plethora of panels, concerts, events, and parties, it is also very easy to go into sensory overload and forget about health and wellness.  And that’s not an outcome I suspect many people are happy with, especially once they leave the festivities, barely feeling alive. We’ve designed the ffVC "Fitness Office" to promote health, and we’ve tried to do the same thing at ff MASSIVE. We’ve arranged for the people at our event and tech media to box one another with Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, and they can exercise their brains with the Interaxon Muse.  We’ll be serving barbeque, which by paleo standards is health-conscious (although I know some have different views on that!). In preparing for the conference, I looked at the First Timer’s Guide to SXSW and The Top 10 Parties at SXSW, but I couldn’t find any information about how to survive SXSW without gaining weight and while keeping your training rhythm.  So, I asked our able intern Julia Sahin to do some research. For both SXSW and other cities globally, a great resource for the fitness-minded traveler is Athletic Minded Traveler.  Jim Kaese, Editor-in-Chief and member of the EVEN Hotels Wellness Advisory Board, observed, “Go [to a conference] with the right mindset.  Don't think you are going to have all sorts of time to start a new or expand on your training regimen that you follow at home.  Your goal should be to maintain fitness, not build.  Plan on 20-30 minutes of cardio, which is enough to give you all the benefits of exercise: better sleep, immunity boost, and brain power throughout the day.” If you have further suggestions for how to stay fit at SXSW, please add them in the comments!   MEET PEOPLE AT SXSW WHILE SWEATING Blood Sweat ‘n’ Beers. A kick-ass event for start ups. Friday, March 7, 10:30 AM $15-$20 RIDE Indoor Cycling, 117 Lavaca St Dance with DJ Robert Delong from Octopus Project at ff MASSIVE Friday, March 7, 9 PM Empire Control Room & Garage, 606 E 7th St Armour3.9 Community Run SXSW Saturday, March 8, 8-11 AM 1206 W 4th St City Running Tours presents SXSWi 5K 2014 Saturday, March 8 8:30-9:30 AM Luke’s Locker 115 Sandra Muraida Way   Dungeons & Dragons Yoga at Resolute Fitness Saturday, March 8 Noon 5145 North FM 620 Suite F120 Dance with Vintage Trouble at ff MASSIVE Saturday, March 8 9 PM Empire Control Room & Garage 606 E 7th St   #IWILL Austin Boot Camp with Under Armour SXSW Sunday, March 9 8-11 AM 1206 W 4th St   Dance at ff MASSIVE (Djs to be announced soon) Sunday, March 9 8 PM Empire Control Room & Garage 606 E 7th St   MapMyFitness + Adobe Monday Motor ride SXSW Monday, March 10 9-11AM 1206 W 4th St   Lady Bird Lake Trail A great trail for running, accessible from most Downtown Austin hotels You can also take advantage of your hotel gyms, available at the Hilton, Courtyard Marriott, Hyatt Regency,  The W, Hilton Garden Inn, The Driskill, Sheraton, Omni Hotel, Embassy Suites, and others.  Gold’s Gym Austin location has classes between noon and 2 PM on Friday, 101 West 6th St.   FOOD Austin Farmers’ Market 422 W. Guadalupe in Republic Square Park Pick up healthy snacks, baked goods, or prepared goods Open Saturdays, 9AM -1PM Blenders and Bowls 206 E. 4th St Austin’s first açaí café with smoothies and customizable açaí bowls Daily Juice 205 W. 3rd St Fresh juices and salads. Daily Juice also does grab n’go. Extreme Pita 515 Congress Ave #130 Fresh, chef-inspired recipes with pita: wraps, flatbaked pita, salads and soups Kebabalicious Storefront: 621 Congress Ave. Food Truck: 450 E. 7th St. Turkish and Greek-style food Thistle Café 221 W. 6th St Breakfast and lunch with a Mexican touch Plated (ffVC portfolio company) Get fresh, local ingredients for a reasonable price delivered to where you are and create your own gourmet meal in less than 30 minutes. Truluck’s Seafood 400 Colorado Seafood and steakhouse Uchi 801 South Lamar Sushi bar and gourmet Japanese fusion cuisine   DISCUSSIONS ABOUT FITNESS AT SXSW (CONFERENCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED)   Finding your fit at SXSW Meet Up Saturday, March 8 9:30-10:30 a.m. Meet Up tent E 6th St & Neches St A Fun, Fit Future: Social Media Takes on Fitness Saturday, March 8 3:30-3:45 PM Austin Convention center Ballroom F 500 E. Cesar Chavez   Connected Fitness 2.0: Shaping Healthy Behaviors Saturday, March 8 5-6 PM Hilton Austin Downtown Salon F 500 E. 4th St   Fitness Wearables & the Quantifiable Self Monday, March 10 5-6 PM Hyatt Regency, Texas Ballroom 5-7 208 Barton Springs Rd With this list and your panel schedules in hand, you’ll be ready for all the festivities. Stay active, eat well, stay hydrated and visit us at ff MASSIVE . See you at SXSW!   Image: www.charlymorlock.com via 500px.com

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