Witness the Fitness | Natalie Montanez

March has been dreary and rainy with no sign of Spring. These past weeks have been filled with Nor'easters and I honestly couldn't take it anymore. I longed for the season of flowers, warm weather, and a cool breeze, but all I've gotten is rain. However, to my surprise, there was a small glimmer of hope on Monday in State College. It was about 50℃, the sun was shining, and it felt like Spring was finally here. I decided to take advantage of this small gift from mother nature and go running outside for the first time in months. Picture of Spring from Google After my classes, I jetted home. It was that weird temperature so I opted for leggings and a short-sleeved shirt. I got my headphones and started off on my run across campus. A Picture Childhood's Gate  I had no plan of attack. I didn't know how long I wanted to run or where I wanted to go. So I took a few chances. For the first time, I listened to the Hamilton  soundtrack while running. If you've ...

This week, I decided that I wanted to do something completely out of my comfort zone. Unlike last week, where I focused on the strengthening of my legs and arms, I wanted to find a new way to strengthen my core. I was scrolling through the White Building's fitness class schedule to try and find something that would be challenging, but still fun. I remembered my friend in math class gushing about how much she loved going to pilates once a week. Picture if woman doing pilates from Google Pilates utilizes a person's body weight in order to strengthen the core by doing simple, yet extremely difficult moves. It is performed on a matt and can sometimes take advantage of different equipment, such as a Pilates mat or Pilates ball. I got my best friend Caitlin to try the class with me, and we even booked the class ahead of time. Usually, we will say we are going to a class, but end up napping instead.  When we walked into the class, there was a bunch of women all dresse...

Please raise your hand if you have ever felt personally victimized by your workout . This week, I recruited my girl squad to come to the gym with me and try something new. Squatting . It's when you put a giant bar on your back that's stacked with 100-pound weights on each side and bend down, bearing all the weight on your calves. Picture of Man Squatting from Google RJ and Jed: The Squat Masters Because my friends and I have never squatted before, we recruited two gym regulars to assist us in our squatting endeavors; RJ and Jed. Both guys are very distinct characters. RJ is always doing something to make someone else laugh, while Jed has the voice of an animated Disney character. While at Penn State, they have gotten really serious about working out; they go to the gym almost every day. Matter of fact, RJ and Jed's max squat weights are 250 and 205 pounds respectively. So, I figured they were experienced enough to teach beginners like my group of friends ...

Last Wednesday was a perfect day in State College. The temperature was in the upper 60s, the sun was shining, and the HUB lawn was covered with students studying, playing volleyball, and enjoying themselves despite their stresses. Realizing that I too wanted to get involved in the festivities,  I gathered my books and a freshly popped bag of popcorn and made my way to the Atherton Courtyard. On my way down the stairs, I heard my stomach growl. I hadn't eaten all day, so I decided to open my bag of popcorn. This was my first mistake. As I was opening the popcorn, I missed a step and fell to my demise. To top it off, I heard a loud thundering crack from my ankle. I started laughing because of course, it would be me who would fall down the stairs because I was THAT hungry that I couldn't wait to open my bag of popcorn. I'm just happy no one was there to see me because I actually would have died of embarrassment. Picture of woman falling from Google Once I was a...

Picture of Candy Hearts from Google Happy day after Valentine's Day! Today is a day I look forward to all year. Not only is all the lovey-dovey stuff over, but Valentine's candy is also 50% off!!!!  Because of this fact, I needed to work out so I didn't feel as guilty when I spent a ludicrous amount of money on truffle chocolates and Skittles. My best friend, Ava.  My friends, Ava, Emily and I went to the gym last night because we are all super single and wanted to do something to make ourselves feel better Ava is basically a gym goddess; she is on the Club Field Hockey team, runs every single day, and can beat anyone in a push-up battle. Her mission of the day was to teach me and Emily her personal workout, which I was not prepared, considering I ate not one, but THREE West Cookies today. The workout began with the deadly treadmill. If you have read my previous post , you know that the treadmill and I don't always see eye to eye, however, I wanted to f...

Winter is my favorite time of year. Not only is the scenery beautiful, but it's also so cold that I have an excuse to not leave my room. Winter is usually my offseason in terms of running, so I become a sloth throughout the snowy months of December through March. Sloth Picture from Google Today, Penn State declared a snow day!!!! All of the buildings on campus were closed, including the gym. To me, this meant that I was going to sit in bed in my pajamas and drink hot chocolate all day. However, I knew this was not conducive to my "fit lifestyle." The grind does not stop solely because of a closed gym. So, I dragged myself out of my warm bed, put on workout clothes, and started googling at home workouts. I was able to find a decent workout  online and modified it in order to fit my level of endurance. It is called a "Full-Body Circuit for Women." This type of workout includes small bursts of different movements with minimal breaks. But before I starte...

We are going to throw it back to my high school years. I started running competitively when I was a freshman after playing soccer for years. I had no idea what being on the cross-country and track teams team would entail other than knowing I would have to run a lot. Little did I know the extent of mileage I would be running. Every day I ran an average of over 5 miles.  YUP, YOU READ THAT RIGHT. 5 miles a day, 5 days a week. I was in the best shape of my life. Pictured to the left is me at the William Invitational running my record in the mile run at 5 minutes and 48 seconds. Looking back now, I can hardly believe that that was me less than a year ago.  Now let's come back to the now. I went to the gym with my best friend Nina on Monday night. We decided an evening run would be easier because no one goes to the gym at 10p.m., right? WRONG!!! We walked into the jungle.  Picture of Jungle from Google Imagine the Amazon with its moistur...