Archive for Workout

Why Your Workout Pants Don’t Need to Cost More Than Your Gym Membership

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I’m definitely not going to disagree with the rest of the world, lululemon pants rock the body.  They look great, they feel great, and they are super trendy. What I don’t like? The price tag. Holy moly! I live in Santa Monica and work at a boutique, somewhat classy gym. Membership here is $89/month. (It’s a lot compared to other parts of the country, but for Santa Monica it’s about right.) The latest trend in workout clothes has pants that cost around the same price! While beauty can definitely be a price worth paying, I prefer to find the bargains when it comes to my workout attire.

LADIES: You don’t have to sacrifice cute workout outfits just because you don’t want to pay the high dollar. There are plenty of options that will keep you looking great and not going broke. 🙂

 

1. Reebok!

Reebok just came out with a new line of workout clothes called ReebokONE. They have styles for all types of workouts! Whether you’re doing Crossfit, Yoga, Running, or Weightlifting, they have it all. And the best part? You can find their prices to be about half of lululemon’s. NOW, they definitely have some pricier options, but if you look around the site a bit, you can find some bargains. They also have frequent coupon codes (currently if you sign up for their newsletter, you get an automatic 15% off). I snagged these bad boys for $55 including shipping/tax with a coupon code.

reebok

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Victoria’s Secret

I have been wearing Victoria’s Secret Most Loved Yoga Pants for years now. They are comfortable, can be used in the gym or just to lounge around and run errands in, and they last a pretty long time. I have used them for running, weightlifting, playing sports, sleeping, you name it! Right now, this link goes straight to a clearance where the pants are only $19.99 a pair. I just found out when I fetched the link, so excuse me while I go shopping before I finish the rest of this post….;-)

vspants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. TJ Maxx/Ross

You have to be in the mood to dig, but I’ve found great designer clothes (both workout and regular wear) at both TJ Maxx and Ross. Some trips are better than others, but I’ve found designer workout pants for less than half the cost. Can’t beat that.

4. Trunk Shows

Finally, call your local stores and find out if they have any upcoming trunk shows. I know lululemon and Lorna Jane both do them at yoga studios and gyms occasionally. Trunk shows usually yield a discount of 20-40% off of their new clothing. It’s definitely worth making the phone call.

While I say all of this in the name of saving, I still spend $200 on a pair of jeans without blinking an eye. Hey, you have to splurge somewhere, right?

What are your splurges and what do you try to save money on? Any discounted deals to add to this list?

 

*Note, I am not affiliated with ANY of the companies above (aside from Iron Gym). Although I definitely wouldn’t mind it 🙂

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Make a Workout Date!

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fun gym 3

One of my favorite ways to stay accountable for a workout is to make a date with a friend. I try to do this a few times a week for two reasons:

1) I get to catch up with my friends while getting my fitness on! We’re all pretty busy, so this is a great excuse to catch up while we sweat.

2) Another person to push you. I don’t know about you, but nobody is ever allowed to beat me. And if they do, I’ll die trying to catch up.

Today, I made two dates with two different friends. It is also Tuesday, which means it’s hip hop cardio day. Needless to say, it was quite the active day!

Workout #1: The morning workout consisted of pushups, pull ups, snatches, burpees, box jumps, leg press, and a 15 minute elliptical session. I did this in between work (I work at the gym, which makes it easy for me).

Workout #2: today was hip hop cardio. I love this class so much because I’m NOT a dancer. Yes, you heard that right. Most people get excited because they were a dancer as a child, or they love to dance and are good at it. I’m a metal head. This is so different from what I’m used to and I have an absolute blast. I’m not the best dancer, but I have fun and sweat my booty off, so I win!

Workout #3: Finally, my friend met me at the gym this evening for Date #2. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. 😉 I found the workout below on instagram and we decided to do it. We did two full rounds of it and finished off with some freestyle dancing and shenanigans as always.

kb workout

The moral of the story? Making a date with a friend will greatly improve the chances of you showing up AND will likely push you to work harder. I don’t recommend making 3 dates in the SAME DAY, however, so learn from my mistakes. Somehow I think getting out of bed tomorrow is going to hurt….

sword fight

The next time you’re feeling less than thrilled to workout, grab a friend and enjoy some friendly competition and catch-up time!

Do you make workout dates with your friends? What is your favorite thing about them?

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Survey and Goals

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I always forget how much I love writing/blogging until I start doing it again. I decided today is as good a day as any!

It’s a lazy Sunday, and I’ve put in a tough week of workouts including, but not limited to: hiking, tabata, strength training, running, plyometrics, hip hop, and kettle bells. Now that I write that out, I really hit a rainbow of workouts this week! It’s always fun to mix things up and do different things. I actually didn’t do any steady-state cardio on a machine this week, and still feel like I kicked.my.booty.

Goals of This Blog

–Healthy Eating: I’ll document some of the healthy foods I incorporate in my life. It’s taken me a long time to find my health-shui if you will and now that I’ve got it, I think it’d be nice to share it with the world. My quick outlook: Make the healthiest choices you can that still make you happy. That is, if you just want to have the fries, but don’t really care to have cheese or a bun on your burger, then by all means do it. Make the changes that you don’t notice as much, and keep the foods you enjoy in your life in moderation. And sometimes? You just go get frozen yogurt because your boyfriend wants it. 🙂

–Exercise and Fitness: I’ll document my workouts, give some workout suggestions, and share my thoughts on exercise. I am a certified personal trainer and a 6 year test dummy with fitness. I’ve tried it all from bodybuilding to power lifting, to crossfit, etc. In addition, while, yes, I work at Iron Gym in Santa Monica, I’ve also really enjoyed the new group fitness program we’ve implemented called Momentum. I’m going to start highlighting the different classes we offer there because having these classes available to me have helped me to try new things that I never would have otherwise. Maybe you will find some inspiration as well!

Since it’s been a while, and my life is constantly changing, I thought a little “about me” survey would be in order. As I type this, I’m enjoying TJ’s Spicy Ranchero Egg White Salad and baby carrots dipped in TJ’s Spinach and Kale Greek Yogurt Dip. Holy yum.

Spinach and Kale dip front tjseggwhite

Here we go….

A – Age: 25..a quarter of a century! (gulp)
B – Bed size: Queen
C – Chore you hate: i know this is weird, but dying my hair. I get gray hair because I’m 25 going on 92, and paying to get it done every 3 weeks is just insanity, so I do it myself. It sucks, but it’s cheap 🙂
D – Dog’s name: My dog in AZ is Knuckles. Here in LA, I don’t have one yet…..but I’m working on convincing the boyfriend that we NEED one now. A boxer would be just dandy 🙂
E – Essential start your day item: Workout and caffeine. In any order.
F – Favorite color: black and gray. I’m dark 🙂
G – Gold or Silver: Silver
H – Height: 5’7.5…that .5 counts ok!
I – I am: very strange, a hard worker, and somewhat frustrating. But I’m funny, so that cancels everything else out. 😀
J – Job: You mean jobS. I’m a manager at a gym, a part time office manager for a celebrity, a sound engineer, a personal assistant/office manager for an executive, and the owner of MyPartTimeManager. I work a lot 🙂
K – Kids: Just my boyfriend.
L – Living arrangements: I live in a 2 bedroom apartment with a roommate and my boyfriend.
M – Mom’s name: Caryle
N – Nicknames: Lizard, Lizzio, Gizmo, Giz, Zeedee, Lizzandra
O – Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Thankfully, never.
P – Pet Peeve: I have so many. People tend to annoy me in general. I definitely hate when people leave you waiting, rather than just giving you an answer. I also can’t stand stupid people and incompetence. Oddly enough though, I get along with pretty much everyone.
Q – Quote from a movie:? I have always said if you could have a career in quoting movies, I’d do that. But alas, I am asked this question with nothing coming to mind.
R – Right or left handed: Both!
S – Siblings: Sister (32), Brother (30), Brother (21)… although looking at that there is no way my baby brother is that old!!!!!! He is still 10 in my head. 😀
T – Time you wake up: 8 or 9ish usually.
U- Underwear: I wear it, yes.
V – Vegetable you dislike: I LOVE vegetables. But peas? No thank you.
W – Ways you run late: Left, right, center.
X – X-rays you’ve had: dental, elbow, shoulder, etc. I’m an athlete. While I’ve had no major injuries, I’ve definitely had minor ones.
Y – Yummy food you make: I make weird things. I get on a kick and that is what I eat for weeks straight. Right now an egg white sandwich with ezekiel bread (toasted), egg whites and TJ’s Spicy Jalapeno Sausage cooked together and topped with a little bit of colby jack cheese. Yummmmmm.
Z – Zoo favorite: I went to the San Diego Zoo last year for the first time since being a kid. It was the most depressing thing ever and I’ll never go back.

Your turn!

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Change It Up

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While there are so many different exercises out there in the world, it can be really easy to fall in the rut of doing the same things over and over. Even if you’re changing things up daily or weekly, you tend to go through the same motions quite often.

Yesterday afternoon, my friend texted me to see if I wanted to work out with her after work. I had done some cardio that morning, but felt like doing something else since I’d been sitting most of the day. I didn’t necessarily feel like doing weights since I’d done a pretty intense crossfit/weight training workout the day before, but I wanted to do something that wasn’t cardio and that challenged me.

What I came up with combined strength, balance, coordination, stretch, and athletic movements. It was just what I was looking for!

Change Up Workout

Since this exercise was most confusing, here’s a video for it.

Single Leg Deadlift to Row:

If you get a chance to try this, let me know! You will feel your legs and butt working and I guarantee you’ll sweat. Best of all? It’s a total change from what you’re most likely doing (although maybe not!). Either way, give it a whirl and have some fun!

**As with anything, make sure you speak with your doctor/naturopath/mom/dad/WHOEVER, before starting a new fitness routine. Honor your body and injuries and if anything ever hurts, STOP. Recognize good pain vs. bad pain. This is  not to be intended for beginners and is only a recommendation. I am not a doctor or physical therapist, just a personal trainer spreading the good word. 😀

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Winter Workout

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It feels like a whirlwind, but somehow the holidays came and went and we’re all getting ready for New Years! You want to know what I’m doing for New Years? Grilling venison and plopping on the couch with a movie. Yeah, we like to party hard. At least I have a hot date.

So where the hell have I been?! I last left you with the Legend of the $5 Coffee Table. Well you will be glad to know that it’s still in my living room and is now accruing more stuff on top of it. Operation Jungle Gym is in full effect.

Anyways, I headed out to Kansas with the boyfriend to visit his family for the holidays. I’m an Arizona girl converted to a Southern California girl. Kansas=cold. As a kid, I spent many winters in Chicago with my extended family, but it’s been a good 10 years. The only snow/cold I’ve been in recently has been for snowboarding, which is an entirely different situation altogether. Needless to say, I don’t do well in cold. Hell, the Santa Monica arctic temperatures right now are killing me!

At this point, you’re probably wondering why you’re reading my complaints, but I promise I have good intentions. You see, even in the blistering cold, I managed to run outside twice and do two indoor workouts. Point being=there is no excuse for not being able to fit in a workout! I did these workouts before, between, or after family events and although it was NOT comfortable, I felt SO much better afterwards.

I do realize that I’m a little bit psychotic and not everyone is ready to venture into 16 degree cold to get a workout in, but the workouts I did inside were absolutely killer and required no equipment and minimal time. I made my manfriend join in too and even though it only further solidified his theory that I’m trying to kill him, I think he secretly enjoyed the challenge.

Try these out and let me know how it goes 😉

cold outside workout

(This workout takes about 20 minutes give or take.)

Warm Up: 25 burpees

then

10 Rounds for Time

10 Air Squats

10 Push Ups

10 Sit Ups (or mix it up and throw in different ab exercises)

Then finish off with one more round of 25 burpees

Feel free to modify the reps, sets, etc, but this was a butt kicker! Let me know how it went when you try it!

Stay tuned for Workout #2….

Happy New Year from Us!

merry christmas 2012

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The A.D.D Workout

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Is it just me or do other people find that as soon as they step on a treadmill, they suddenly have ADD to an extreme level? I’m not poking fun at anyone that actually has ADD (I am pretty sure I actually do have it), but I know I’m not the only one that feels this way about the revolving sidewalk of death.

Today I had 45 minutes slated on that thing and the patience of a puppy at a dog park. I decided to get creative and have some fun. It tends to keep me from getting bored and pushes me to change things up.

The A.D.D Workout

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

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The Woods Have Palm Trees

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Yesterday I was feeling rather stressed out and overwhelmed. Being in a gym around a bunch of equipment and people was the exact opposite of what I needed, so I headed out to Temescal Canyon. Temescal Canyon is part of the Santa Monica Mountains and has several hikes to offer. The Santa Monica’s literally have miles and miles of trails, and Temescal has at least 5 or 6 good ones to choose from. Basically there is a main entrance, and as you hike on there are several forks in the road to choose from. It seemed fitting for my mood.

I did a mix of hiking and trail running and just let me feet go where they wanted to go. I took a break at the top to admire the gorgeous day I was experiencing. Southern California definitely has it’s perks.

TC 5

As beautiful as this picture is, it doesn’t do an ounce of justice. Yes, I measure justice in ounces.

I hiked back down the mountain and decided I wasn’t done with nature just yet. I sat and listened to the running water and trees blowing for a bit. This was my view…

TC 6

 

Eventually I ventured off further and discovered a tree that happened to be perfect for climbing. So I called on  my inner 5 year old and did just that. Probably the best thing I’ve done since I’ve lived in LA.

 

 

 

tree climb 1

 

I’ll let the pictures speak for the rest of this. But needless to say, nature walks/runs/hikes are by far the best thing ever.

tree stump 2

bridge

And just in case you forgot I was in LA, yes, that’s a palm tree in the woods…..

PALM TREE

 

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5 Things I Will Probably Regret Admitting

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Today has been the most boring Monday in history. Not boring in the sense that there was nothing to do, but boring in the sense that it was very routine and blah. I don’t like routine. I like unroutine. I also like making up new words.

I got up feeling like I could stay in bed for another 2 hours, but I decided not to be a loser and to get my butt to work. I worked for about 3 hours and called it quits. I debated on going home and coming back to workout, but had a feeling if I went home I’d never come back. To the treadmill I went…..

WORKOUT

babyworkout

Today’s workout was just cardio. I put my legs through the ringer the past few days and my upper body is sore from yesterday’s workout as well. I did 30 minutes on the treadmill (8.0-12.0 incline, 3.3-3.5mph) and finished with 15 minutes on the “moon machine”. I call it that because when I’m on it I feel like I’m walking on the moon. Since I know what that would feel like.

RANDOM

Since today was so mundane, I figured I’d spice it up with 5 things you may not know about me. There are no rules to this game except that if I don’t think twice before typing it, it’s not good enough to make the list. Here goes..

1 I once lied about having a dog. No, I wasn’t 5 years old, I was 19. It was an accident, but by the time I realized what was going on, I couldn’t turn back. Let me explain….

My dog had died about 3 months prior to this conversation. This person we shall call “John” had been talking to me about his dog quite a bit. I may or may not have had a crush on John and started talking about funny things that my previous dog did. (At this point, it could have been a current or former dog, I hadn’t clarified either direction.) He then told me that we should take our dogs to the dog park together and for some reason I just blurted out “Yeah that would be fun!” I think I was just nervous and I said it before I had a chance to think. I felt like an idiot, and it was too late to say “Oh wait, I mean my dog is dead!” So, for the next week, I had to pretend that I had a dog whenever I was asked about it. Finally, I came in one day and told him that my dog had gotten hit by a car a few days before. It was a lie, it had happened about 3-4 months prior, but I didn’t know what else to do. 

2In kindergarten I peed my pants on the playground and tried to blame it on the water fountain exploding on me. The water fountain DID explode on me….internally…

3 When I was a little kid (2nd grade maybe?) our cousin was staying with us for the summer while he interned at a company in Phoenix.  I would literally bug him day and night and go in his room when he wasn’t home messing with his stuff. He had a scanner, so obviously I needed to scan every part of my body and every object in the entire house. I think I was just excited to have someone new around, but at 19 years old, I don’t think he was all that amused with me. Or at least not 24/7. I can’t remember if he got mad at me or just started ignoring me, but one day I got mad that he wasn’t paying attention to me and I took the keys to his rental car and threw them in the dumpster. I denied ever seeing them and eventually, he had to get a locksmith out to make new keys. I never admitted this to anyone until I was in college. Mike, if you’re reading this, SORRY!! 🙂

4 Continuing with my angelic childhood, my sister used to babysit a lot and actually made pretty decent money for someone her age. She kept it in a piggy bank in her bedroom. It was weird, because every few weeks a few hundred dollars would go missing and that exact amount would end up in my wallet. It was a strange phenomenon that never quite got explained…..;-)


5-2 Banana peels don’t get you high. Don’t ask me how I know that, or why I learned that at age 14. 

banana peel

So now that I’ve admitted that I was the devil’s child and also quite gullible, what is one thing you will probably regret admitting? Leave a comment! 

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Tyranna-SORE-ASS Lizzy

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Ah, the close of the weekend. For many, this is a dreaded day, as you gear up for a 40 hour week in the office. For me, it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is. Sometimes I don’t work much during the week and a ton on the weekends, sometimes I work 7 days a week (although lately that hasn’t been the case) and sometimes it evens out through the week. It works for me, since my brain is scattered anyways, but I am quite sure it would give some people an ulcer.

i-hate-mondays

Regardless, somehow I still find it tough to be motivated on the weekends. I want to workout, but I also just want to be lazy. On Friday, I did a leg workout that rocked my world. It altered my Saturday workout plans, in that, I didn’t work out. I couldn’t walk. I looked like I’d been riding a horse for a week. Not pretty. I did do 100 pushups (broken up into 10 sets of 10) but considered it mostly a rest day.

This morning, I woke up late. Last night was spent at my boyfriend’s new recording studio and it was the first time that we actually got to hook up some microphones and record! It was actually really freakin’ cool, especially considering how much work has been put into that place. That put us home at around 3am, so today started out slower than usual.

I met my friend Tedi at the gym at around 2pm after running a few errands with my manfriend. My legs were still sore and I just wasn’t sure how well this was going to work out. We started off doing about 15 minutes on the treadmill to warm up and then we hit the floor.

We did a series of exercises and then turned it into a buddy workout. It ended up being a complete BLAST and we plan on doing it every weekend. It’s extra motivation to have someone there with you when you’re feeling less than motivated. I’m not going to lie, my legs probably needed one more day, but I made sure to warm them up and stretch them out quite a bit in order to get through this without injury.  Here’s what we did:

WEEKEND WORKOUT

3 sets:

-Squat to bicep curl to shoulder press with DB’s (12-15 reps)

…………..superset with mountain climbers (50 reps total)

3 sets:

-Bosu DB Deadlifts (you can do from the floor if you’re not very stable on a bosu) (15 reps)

…………..superset with Bosu pushups (also can do from the knees if needed) (8-10 reps)

Then we did 3 sets of 2 different ab exercises with a blaster in between each set. We switched off deciding what our blaster would be. No rest. It went a little like this:

-Opposite hand to opposite foot sit ups (10 reps per side)

-50 jumping jacks (my pick)

-Opposite hand to opposite foot sit ups (10 reps per side)

-20 low box jumps (her pick)

-Opposite hand to opposite foot sit ups (10 reps per side)

-In/Out squat jumps: 10 reps legs together, 10 reps legs apart, alternating (my pick)

-Medicine ball sit ups (resting partner throws the ball to working partner, then switch) (15 reps)

-Run around the gym as fast as you can (her pick)

-Medicine ball sit ups (resting partner throws the ball to working partner, then switch) (15 reps)

-10 burpees (my pick)

-Medicine ball sit ups (resting partner throws the ball to working partner, then switch) (15 reps)

-1000 meter row (her pick)

 

This was a great workout and was super motivating to have a partner. It’s nice when you split the decisions because you have some control but are also not sure what to expect. Find a friend and try this workout! Let me know what you think. (Feel free to switch up any of the exercises, but you get the idea.)

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A Real Americano & a Workout

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Editor’s Note: I published this yesterday, but WordPress lost it. I had to re-write it. I wasn’t happy.

Oh man. Last night was one of those nights where sleep just didn’t happen. It never seems like that big of a deal at the time, but then you wake up the next morning. And it’s a bigfuckin’deal! You begin to think of what excuses you can use to stay in bed and convince yourself that getting up wouldn’t be healthy for you….

dog.in.bed

My schedule is pretty flexible, and this morning was definitely one of those days that I tried to think of excuses. Alas, I realized I better just get up and knock things off my to-do list instead. I had a lot to get done.

I work part-time at a boutique gym in Santa Monica. I started working there the day after I moved to LA. As in, I got to LA at 3pm on a Saturday and was at work at 7am the next morning. With that said, this place has grown to be somewhat of a home to me. When I started, I worked at the front desk. It began as about a 15 hour a week gig, but soon turned into 30+ hours per week. One day, I decided to quit to pursue other things. Then they re-hired me. The same day. In a different position. So now I do a bunch of administrative work for the gym and basically make my own schedule.

Today when I got to the gym, it hit me as soon as I walked in the door. I needed it. I needed ‘a real one.’ You see, I’ve been trying to cut down on caffeine (and lately failing miserably, but did give it up for a good 6 months or so) and have made decaf Americanos a staple. Sure, I will drink 3 energy drinks in a day and be okay with it, but I won’t deviate from my decaf Americanos. Shut up. Logic isn’t one of my strengths.

The rebel in me decided that today needed to be a rule-breaking kind of day. There is a cute little coffee shop across the street from the gym, and it wasn’t long before I was walking through the door looking like Lindsay Lohan everyday after a long night. The owner of the shop immediately started to say “So a deca..” but I cut him off, looked him straight in the eye and said, “I need a real one today.” He knew I wasn’t joking and was on top of it immediately. And that was that. Soon I had this staring at me. It was glorious. And real. I like caffeine, yes I do.

americano

It lit quite a fire under my ass and I was able to get a whole lot done today. It also inspired me to do this fun little workout. It’s quick, tough, and sweaty. Hope you enjoy!

Upside Down Christmas Tree Workout (Lame Name Award goes to me!)

5 ROUNDS:

Burpees w/ push-ups (10 reps, 20 sec. rest between sets)

Rest 1 minute, then…

4 ROUNDS:

Superset: DB Squats w/ BB Push Press (10 reps each, 20 sec. rest between supersets)

Rest 1 minute, then…

3 ROUNDS:

Superset: Swiss ball crunch (10 reps) w/ 30 second plank (no rest)

No rest from here on out..

2 ROUNDS: 

Superset: Lat pulldown w/ Seated row (10 reps)

1 ROUND:

400m Sprint

 Leave a comment if you try the workout, and let me know how it goes. Then riddle me this:

If you had to live on candy, what would you buy?

I’d definitely buy sour patch kids and sweet tarts.

 

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