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Popular Wellness and Fitness Labor Day Deals You’ll Want to Treat Yourself To

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Popular Wellness and Fitness Labor Day Deals You’ll Want to Treat Yourself To

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Giselle Castro-Sloboda,


Anna Gragert

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission.
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Giselle Castro-Sloboda Fitness and Nutrition Writer

I’m a Fitness & Nutrition writer for CNET who enjoys reviewing the latest fitness gadgets, testing out activewear and sneakers, as well as debunking wellness myths. On my spare time I enjoy cooking new recipes, going for a scenic run, hitting the weight room, or binge-watching many TV shows at once. I am a former personal trainer and still enjoy learning and brushing up on my training knowledge from time to time. I’ve had my wellness and lifestyle content published in various online publications such as: Women’s Health, Shape, Healthline, Popsugar and more.

Expertise Fitness and Wellness

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Anna Gragert Wellness Editor II

Anna Gragert (she/her/hers) was previously the lifestyle editor at HelloGiggles, deputy editor at So Yummy and senior lifestyle editor at Hunker. Over the past 10+ years, Anna has also written for the L.A. Times, Elle, Bust Magazine, Dazed, Apartment Therapy, Well+Good and more, focusing on all things lifestyle, health and wellness.

Expertise Mental health, Personal care, Nutrition, Sleep

CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.

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Up to 40% off

Merach Exercise Equipment


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20% off

Divi Scalp and Hair Health


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Hydrow Wave and Hydrow Pro

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$350 at Garmin
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Garmin Forerunner 265S Running Smartwatch


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$30 at Amazon
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25% off

Hydro Flask wide-mouth, vacuum-insulated, stainless steel water bottle


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$25 at Amazon
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The Gym People thick high-waist yoga pants with pockets


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$37 at Amazon
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Everyone’s back at work, but a bunch of Labor Day deals are still hanging on in there. Many popular wellness and fitness products, from sunscreens to workout gear and vitamins, are on sale, so it’s the perfect opportunity to treat yourself. Even as summer ends and temperatures drop, you’ll want to maintain your health routine, and these discounted items can help you do so while the seasons change. Now is a great time to ask yourself: What will my fitness and self-care routine look like this fall?

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If you’re looking for Labor Day deals on products besides wellness and fitness, don’t miss out on our other deals before they sell out.

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Merach has exercise bikes and rowers for sale until Sept. 29 through Amazon. If you’re not looking to spend over $500 on a piece of exercise equipment, then you’ll want to take advantage of this sale. Merach’s R14 Wood Rower is marked down to $400, plus an additional $90 off and the Q1S Rower is on sale for $300 with an additional $110 coupon. If an exercise bike is more of your speed, the S26 Exercise Bike is on sale for $200 with $40 off, so it fits just about any budget. 

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Grab a new pair of running shoes this Labor Day with the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 22. Brooks is a reputable running shoe brand, and CNET has named it as the best walking shoe for those with plantar fascitis in the past. The Brooks Adrenaline GTS 22 are road running shoes that are supportive, cushioned and ideal if you overpronate. These can also be used if your job requires you to be on your feet all day and you want to make sure you’re comfortable during your workday.

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Allbirds is currently offering 30% off all its shoes sitewide. The brand is known for its comfortable yet sustainable footwear. CNET named Allbirds Tree Runners as one of the best walking shoes for women. Some of the qualities we love about Allbirds are how light the shoes are and how convenient they are for everyday wear. These shoes are also machine washable, which is always a plus.

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Taking care of your scalp and hair has been made easier with Divi products. The clean hair care line is offering 20% off its products this Labor Day with the code LDW20. Shop some of their best sellers like the Divi scalp serum or volumizing shampoo and conditioner if you’re looking to give your hair some TLC.

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If you want to step up your home gym with a rowing machine, you’ll want to check out the Hydrow Wave or Hydro Pro. For Labor Day, Hydrow is taking over $600 off the two models. Hydrow created a rowing machine with a smooth stride that uses electromagnetic drag technology to mimic the outdoor rowing experience. Both of these Hydrow models topped CNET’s best rowing machines list, so you know they are worth the investment. These are solid options to choose from with the Hydrow Wave being ideal if you have limited space.

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Meal prep just got a whole lot easier with Purple Carrot. If you’re plant-based but have a hard time whipping up meals in the kitchen, a Purple Carrot subscription takes the guesswork out for you. Right now for Labor Day deals, Purple Carrot is taking $100 off four boxes with the code FUELUP100. You’ll have plenty of option to pick from for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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If you’re a pickleball or tennis enthusiast, you won’t want to miss Diadem’s Labor Day sale. Right now, you can score up to 50% in discounts off its entire catalog, which includes paddles, rackets, shoes, apparel, accessories and more. Whether you are a new or experienced player needs, Diadem surely has everything you need to put your best paddle forward.

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When I was four months postpartum, I started losing my hair, something that commonly happens to new mothers. Taking Nutrafol supplements slowed the hair loss and improved my hair texture and its growth. You don’t have to be postpartum to enjoy the benefits of Nutrafol’s supplements as the brand has plenty of different options for hair loss. Men can even take advantage of Nutrafol’s supplements.

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Supergoop is well known for its sunscreen products. In fact, CNET named it the best facial sunscreen for all skin types. For Labor Day weekend, Supergoop is taking 20% off all of its products, including free shipping. You can get items for yourself and the whole family while supplies last.

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The runner in your life will love the Garmin 265S Running Smartwatch, which is now $100 off on Amazon. This smartwatch functions as a sleep coach, Pulse Ox sensors and a heart rate monitor and offers race adaptive training plans as well as daily suggested workouts. The Garmin 265s battery life also lasts for up to 15 days in smartwatch mode.

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If you’re looking for a trusty water bottle, Hydro Flask has its water bottles on sale during Labor Day deals on Amazon. Take 25% off the 24-ounce bottles, which brings the price down to $30. Users enjoy this bottle because it keeps water cold for up to 24 hours, has an easy-to-use straw, is leakproof and fits just about any cup holder. You can also choose from a variety of colors so you can stock up to have a bottle at home, in the car, at work and for the gym.

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The Gym People is one of Amazon’s top-selling workout leggings that are affordable. For Labor Day, Gym People leggings are on sale for over 20% off. There are a variety of patterns and colors to choose from and they’re all under $25.

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If you’re just starting out lifting weights, it helps to have a few sets of weights at home. The Amazon Basics neoprene dumbbell hand weights are on sale for $30. The set comes with a stand and three sets of 2-, 3- and 5-pound weights. These fit perfectly under a desk or in a small space and don’t take up a lot of room.

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One of my favorite workout tools to have on hand is TRX suspension straps because they’re suitable for beginners and advanced users alike. The TRX Go Straps are now on sale for $114, $25 off the original price. These straps are suitable to use at home, hang up at the gym, at the park or while you’re on the go.

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If you have the space to fit a cable machine, a workout bench and other stations in your home gym, you can get Titan Fitness equipment for up to 40% off this Labor Day. You can get a leg press hack squat machine, now over $200 off, or a safety squat Olympic bar for $100 off.

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Recovery is important when it comes to your wellness routine. Chirp is well known for its Chirp wheels that come in four different sizes (4, 6, 10 and 12 inches). They’re intended to massage and help stretch out your back and shoulders, with the 4-inch wheel meant to massage the neck comfortably as well. This Labor Day, all Chirp products, with the exception of the Chirp RPM Mini, are on sale for 15% off until Sept. 9. If you sit at a desk all day long and your back is looking for some relief, the Chirp may be a good option.

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NordicTrack is offering up to $700 off its fitness equipment, including treadmills, studio bikes, ellipticals and rowers. If you’re not sure which to pick from, CNET named the NordicTrack Commercial 2450 the best overall treadmill, and it’s currently $2,499, $500 off during its current sale. Other items that are discounted for Labor Day are the S22i Studio Bike and its latest RW900 and RW600 rowers.

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If you’ve been eyeing an exercise bike that isn’t a Peloton, but still a trusted brand, then you’ll want to consider a Schwinn bike. For Labor Day, Schwinn is offering up to $200 off its exercise bikes, plus free shipping. Schwinn exercise bikes that are part of the sale include the IC4 Bike, 130 Upright Bike, 190 Upright Bike, 230 Recumbent Bike and 290 Recumbent Bike. The majority of these bikes are $50 off with the exception of the IC4 Bike, which is $200 off. 

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Therabody kicked off its Labor Day sale early and is offering discounts on its popular massage guns, the TheraFace Pro and other recovery items until Sept. 7. Standout deals you won’t want to miss out on include CNET massage gun favorite, the Theragun Elite (now $299), which is perfect for beginners or advanced massage gun users. It also includes a free charging stand with your purchase. Another item you’ll enjoy if you want muscle relief on the go is the Theragun Mini 2, now $149. 

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Most BowFlex equipment is on sale for Labor Day weekend for up to $300 off, plus free shipping. Some popular items that are discounted include the BowFlex Treadmill 22, marked down to $2,499 from $2,799; the Max Total 16, one of the CNET’s favorite ellipticals, now $2,199; and the BowFlex SelectTech 1090 Adjustable Dumbbells, marked down to $599. CNET’s favorite budget exercise bike, the BowFlex C6 Bike, is also on sale for $799. Plus, there are deals on BowFlex home gyms and benches if you’re looking to add pieces to your home gym.

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From now until Sept. 8, Ritual’s scientifically backed wellness essentials are on sale for up to 40% off. For instance, its Stress Relief supplement made using BioSeries technology is now down to $32 from $54. You can also get the Ritual essential multivitamin for women 18-plus — which was named the best multivitamin overall for women by CNET — as part of an Essential, Gut & Skin Trio bundle for $85 instead of $141. The bundle also includes the three-in-one pre-, pro- and postbiotic to support a balanced gut microbiome as well as Ritual’s clinically studied wrinkle support.

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Known for its infrared, pulsed electromagnetic field and red light devices, HigherDose is having a 20% off sitewide sale this Labor Day. Simply use the code LDW20 at checkout. If you’ve been looking to give red light therapy a try, the red light face mask is now $280, down from $349. Or try the infrared sauna blanket for $559, which is a discount of $140.

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In honor of Labor Day, online fitness platform Pvolve (Jennifer Aniston’s favorite low-impact fitness method) is offering 10% off all bundles with the code LIFEMADEBETTER. Instead of paying $200, you can now get Pvolve’s Signature Bundle for $180. This includes a P.ball, P.band, precision mat and a free month of the brand’s monthly membership (which will be $15 thereafter). With the membership, you get access to a live virtual studio and on-demand classes.

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If you’ve been looking to upgrade your bathroom experience with a bidet, now is the time, thanks to Tushy’s Labor Day sale featuring bidets and bundles up to 40% off until Sept. 6. Now just $97 down from $139, you can get the Tushy Classic 3.0 bidet attachment, which fits 95% of toilets and takes less than 10 minutes to install. If you’re more interested in a bundle, get the warm water bidet called the Tushy Spa 3.0 and Ottoman for $46 off at $163.

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If you’re a fan of Vacation’s sunscreen products, we have good news: the brand is having a 20% off Labor Day sale on products such as the Classic Whip SPF 30 for $18, Shake Shake SPF 50 face sunscreen for $23 and cooling After Sun Gel for $10. Although summer is coming to a close, you will still need to wear sunscreen during the fall and winter, so now’s a great time to stock up.

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The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

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“Forget living longer, exercise can make life easier right now”—a 72-year-old fitness influencer and marathon runner shares two accessible ways to start moving

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“Forget living longer, exercise can make life easier right now”—a 72-year-old fitness influencer and marathon runner shares two accessible ways to start moving

Retirement is often a time when people slow down, but in Christine Hobson’s case, she’s speeding up. When her daughter persuaded her to join a running club so she wouldn’t get bored, she had no idea she’d get the fitness bug and run 125 marathons in total, visiting all seven continents.

And the 72-year-old former teacher has plans to run the North Pole marathon in 2027.

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Why 21-15-9 Might be the Smartest Workout Format in Fitness – and How to Use it to Drive Muscle Growth

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Why 21-15-9 Might be the Smartest Workout Format in Fitness – and How to Use it to Drive Muscle Growth

CrossFit means a lot of things to a lot of people – because it’s made up of a lot of things.

Since the rise of the fitness giant, countless brands, events and training methods have sprung up around it – not claiming to be CrossFit, but looking suspiciously CrossFit-esque.

There are, however, a handful of things that are uniquely CrossFit: the ‘Girls’ benchmark workouts. The Hero WODs and, of course, its signature rep schemes.

Chief among them is ’21-15-9′.

The 21-15-9 rep scheme may just be the single most CrossFit thing in existence. But what exactly is it? Where did it come from? And why might it actually be better at building muscle in a hurry than its conditioning roots would have you believe?

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Let’s have a look.

What Is 21-15-9?

If you’ve never encountered it before, the format couldn’t be simpler. Choose two exercises (occasionally more) and perform 21 reps of each, then 15 reps of each, then nine reps of each, completing the entire workout as quickly as possible – with good form.

Probably the best-known example is ‘Fran’: 21 thrusters and pull-ups, followed by 15 of each, then nine. On paper it doesn’t look especially intimidating. In practice, it’s one of the most feared benchmark workouts in fitness.

Where Did it Come From?

Unlike many modern training methods, 21-15-9 didn’t come out of a study. It came from the gym floor.

CrossFit founder Greg Glassman has explained that the format emerged through years of coaching and experimentation in the 1990s. Rather than chasing a perfect sets-and-reps prescription, he was looking for a workout that allowed athletes to maintain a high power output from start to finish.

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The thinking is surprisingly elegant. You begin with 21 reps while fresh. By the time you reach the set of 15, your ability to produce force has already fallen. By the final nine, you’re significantly more fatigued – but the workload has dropped by almost the same amount.

Instead of grinding through increasingly miserable sets of the same length, the workout ‘meets you where you are’, reducing the work required as your capacity declines. The result is a workout that encourages you to keep moving instead of standing around trying to recover.

The numbers themselves are also remarkably practical. Forty-five total reps per movement provides plenty of training volume without turning the session into an endurance slog, while every set divides neatly into thirds if you need to break it up.

(Although I’ve got to be honest, I’m a 20-15-10-5 man myself, just for the sake of round numbers.)

Why Does it Work So Well?

Although there isn’t research showing that 21-15-9 is somehow the magic formula, there are obvious reasons why it consistently produces brutally effective workouts.

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Descending reps help maintain intensity. As fatigue accumulates, reducing the target allows movement quality, bar speed and overall work rate to stay higher than they would if you simply repeated the same number of reps over and over.

It also tends to land in a physiological sweet spot. Most 21-15-9 workouts take between three and eight minutes, depending on the movements and the athlete. That’s long enough to create a serious cardiovascular challenge while still requiring meaningful force production throughout. You’re taxing your anaerobic systems hard while relying on your aerobic system to help you recover just enough to keep going.

Finally, there’s the psychological trick. The hardest-looking part comes first. Once you’ve survived the opening 21, every remaining round appears more manageable. ‘Only 15 left.’ Then, ‘Just nine.’ In reality, you’re becoming more fatigued with every rep, but the shrinking target keeps you attacking the workout instead of pacing too conservatively.

Why it Might be Surprisingly Good for Building Muscle

Perhaps the biggest misconception about 21-15-9 is that it’s ‘just cardio with weights’.

Choose the right load and something interesting happens. Very few athletes complete every round unbroken. Instead, the workout naturally evolves into a series of short, broken sets separated by only a few seconds of rest.

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Your 21 might become 11-5-5. Your 15 becomes 8-4-3. Your final nine might stay unbroken – or become 5-4.

In effect, you’ve accidentally turned the workout into a form of rest-pause training.

Those brief pauses allow just enough recovery to squeeze out more high-quality repetitions before fatigue catches up again. By the latter stages of each mini-set, you’re repeatedly working very close to failure, recruiting the high-threshold motor units with the greatest potential for muscle growth.

It’s a similar principle to rest-pause training, myo-reps and cluster sets: all methods used to accumulate hypertrophy-friendly volume while keeping the load relatively heavy and the rest periods brutally short.

You’re basically speed-running a large number of hard, growth-stimulating reps in a very small window of time. Could this help explain why elite CrossFit athletes often carry an impressive amount of muscle despite spending relatively little time performing traditional bodybuilding splits?

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It’s certainly plausible, although the ‘elite’ part often selects for athletes with the greatest muscle-building potential.

Much of their training isn’t simply conditioning. It’s high-density resistance training performed under accumulating fatigue, with only fleeting recovery between efforts. In other words, they’re often doing something bodybuilders have deliberately programmed for decades: packing a lot of hard work into a very short period of time.

That’s not to say 21-15-9 is superior to a well-designed hypertrophy programme. If your sole goal is building muscle, there are more efficient ways to do it.

But if you’re looking for a workout that develops fitness, tests your mettle and still provides a meaningful stimulus for strength and size, it’s easy to see why this deceptively simple rep scheme has remained one of CrossFit’s defining fingerprints for more than 20 years.

Best Bodyweight 21-15-9 Workout: ‘JT’

If you’re looking for an interesting twist on the 21-15-9 format, look no further than Hero WOD ‘JT’, which concentrates the muscle-building potential of the format into a brutal upper-body workout.

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Created in honour of Petty Officer 1st Class Jeff Taylor, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2006, the workout strips away barbells altogether and relies solely on three bodyweight movements:

21-15-9 reps of:

Don’t let the lack of equipment fool you. The volume – 45 reps of each movement, 135 reps in total – combined with the descending rep scheme makes this a brutal upper-body test, hammering the shoulders, chest and triceps while demanding serious muscular endurance.

Better still, it perfectly demonstrates one of the biggest strengths of 21-15-9. As fatigue mounts and the sets naturally fragment, the workout begins to resemble one giant rest-pause set, allowing you to accumulate a huge number of hard, near-failure reps in less than 10 minutes.

If your goal is building an impressive upper body while developing serious work capacity, there are few bodyweight workouts that deliver quite so much bang for your buck, making ‘JT’ one of my personal favourites.

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If there’s one thing Kori Sampson knows, it’s how to optimise your body composition for performance. To tap into his knowledge as an elite athlete and coach, we asked him to create a 4-week plan to help you move faster, recover quicker and keep pushing when the fatigue sets in – all while improving your muscle-to-fat ratio.

Ready to build muscle, burn fat and come out the other side looking, feeling and performing better? Click here to get 14 days of free access to the plan via the Men’s Health app.


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10 minutes of swimming might not sound worth it – but I tried it for 2 weeks and found the benefits of a quick dip

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10 minutes of swimming might not sound worth it – but I tried it for 2 weeks and found the benefits of a quick dip

The concept of ‘exercise snacking’ has never been more popular. Not only is it convenient and accessible, but there is solid scientific evidence that short bursts of physical activity can yield real benefits for our health. But can a swimming workout be an effective ‘exercise snack’?

A study published in the European Heart Journal found that just 15 to 20 minutes of vigorous physical activity a week (almost as low as two minutes a day) was enough to significantly lower the risk of heart disease, cancer and early death. The study defined vigorous activity as any exercise that leaves you out of breath and raises your heart rate, including swimming.

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