Category Archives: Training

Meet the staff Monday

Life Health, Training


Happy Monday to all of you and let’s get this week started right with a Meet the staff Monday. We are doing our best at making sure our staff knows all of you and you know our staff. We appreciate you coming to Union Fitness and we also realize that we are what you make us. So with that said we are going to introduce you to our staff. Please feel free to speak to our staff with anything you need. Even if we are training we are still here to serve each and everyone of you. Now Catlyn will take the mic. 

Hey folks, 

Welcome to this week’s edition of Meet the Staff Monday! My name is Catlyn Brooke and you can catch me in the Strength Lab Monday/Friday for 6:30a #powerful and Tuesday/Thursday for 6:30a Bootcamp.  

I started at Union Fitness 2 years ago as a training client with Lindsey, at the times I was 6 months post hernia repair. I had a foundation in strength training from CrossFit (not how I got the hernia), and I wanted to learn how to squat “right” before lifting heavy again. After training for a few months with Lindsey and getting some women’s #powerful classes under my belt (you get it?), I decided Union Fitness was the place to continue my fitness and coaching journey. 

I have met so many amazing, hardworking, bad-ass people here who are my IRL #fitspo. The members who have come into my life in the past few months and have broken me out of my lifting slump. I was pretty much indifferent to training, not sure if I ever wanted to do it seriously or compete again. BUT! I have been convinced (aka hyped up) to do a meet in March with them. So now, instead of just seeing me teach classes or greeting your lovely faces at the desk, you will also see me lying on the floor after a set of 20 belt squats programmed by none other than our new General Manager and all-star beard grower, Todd Hamer.

What do I do when I’m not at UF? I spend the majority of my time at ASCEND Pittsburgh as the Events Director and a personal trainer. I also spend a lot of time singing annoying songs to my cats, baking, and reading. 

Come see me in the morning if you want to hear more about my cats (no, I won’t sing their songs to you) or if you would like to request a certain baked good(s). If morning isn’t your thing, you can find me at ASCEND in the afternoon, probably lying on the floor there too after slipping off a climbing hold.  

See you soon! 

Catlyn 

PS – ((Warning: Shameless self-promotion.)) I post about my cats a lot on Instagram. @catlyn_

 

Guest Training Log, Simone Morin

Fitness, Training

You will notice that we are going to start having some guests on the blog. One of the things we at Union Fitness want to bring to you is not just what we know, we also want you to learn from others that we learn from. This week Simone Morin is writing our guest post. Full disclosure, Simone was one of my assistant strength coaches when I was director of strength and conditioning at the George Washington University.

Simone has spent time at many schools training athletes, she worked at Kansas, GW, Springfield College as well as UConn and Quinnipiac. Enough from me here is Simone’s workout log.

Todd Hamer

Quick little background – I was introduced to strength training as a college softball player. Through my collegiate career I had never back squatted or benched with a normal barbell. Post-college I started teaching myself new movements I had not experienced in college (with the exception of back squat). About a year ago I finally decided it was time to learn and train back squat and regular bench press. Over this past summer Hamer brought me to the dark side and introduced me to conjugateU so here is a look into a dynamic effort upper body focused day designed to work on my weaknesses.
Dynamic Effort Upper Day
Goals: Work on control and owning the bottom range of motion on bench, while moving the bar as fast as possible on the concentric portion of the movement.
A1. Speed Bench Triphasic Clusters (2 eccentric reps, 10s rest, 2 isometric reps, 10s rest, 2 normal concentric reps). Every rep the concentric portion should be at a speed of about 7m/s. 3 total sets at 95lbs
B1. 1 and 1/4 rep bench (own the bottom range of motion)
5×3 (95, 105, 110, 115, 120lbs)
C1. SA Lat Pulldown with Isometric Band Hold 4x8e
C2. SA DB Row 4x10e
Armfarm:
D1. Surf the rack biceps
D2. Surf the rack OH Tricep Extension
D3. Manual Forearm rotations

 

Ham’s Training Log

Fitness, Training

Some background before you begin reading this training log.

I began working as a strength coach in 1999 at University of Pittsburgh, at the time Buddy Morris was the strength coach at Pitt and he introduced me to Louie Simmons and the Westside Barbell style of training. Recently people have begun referring to this style of training as conjugate model of training. I can debate what it should be called yet I don’t want to bore anyone with these details. What I will do is break down how it is generally programmed.

Training in this style means that one day you train your big movement explosively (dynamic effort day), one day you train your big moment heavy (maximal effort day). All you do from here is rotate upper and lower dominate days. An example would look like this.

Sunday

Explosive Press, followed by accessories.

Monday

Heavy Lower, followed by accessories.

Wed

Heavy Press, followed by accessories.

Friday

Explosive Lower, followed by accessories.

Tues and Thur are recovery days. Drag a sled, throw a med ball or anything with little to no eccentric load.

This type of programming has led to many great lifts and I have followed similar patterns during most of my lifting career. So here is a sample day for me. This is Tuesdays lift which is my Max Effort Lower day.

Warm up 100 jump rope without messing up.

Blackburns 2×10

Band Rows 100 reps

1a Box Jumps 3×3 1b Med Ball Slams 3×8

Sumo Deadlifts 135 2×5, 225×3, 275×1,315×1,365×1,405×1, 405×1 +1chain,405×1+2chains, 405×1 +3chains, 405×1 +4 chains, 425 x1 +4chains.

RDL 3×5 315

Pit Shark Squats 5×10 a bunch of plates

100 reps 45 degree hyper

Finished with some abs.

This was just a small example of a heavier deadlift day. I have recently returned to sumo deadlifts and am now just getting some weight in my hands. With my Max Effort days my goal is to strain without missing any reps. So it is a tough balance I do not want to be soft yet I do not want technique to go out the window and I do not want to miss. So this is where I ended my pulls. At times I may add some singles or doubles at 80% of my best rep for that day.

 

 

 

 

CJ is ready to compete…will you join him?

Life Health, Training

Hello to all my Bumpy friends, 

For those of you who don’t know me, I am CJ and I teach #Powerful w/CeJ on Tuesdays & Thursdays from 5-8pm. I have been a college strength coach for 7 years and a Union Fitness coach for over 2 years. I’ve worked with the New York Mets, Ohio State Football, various universities (Slippery Rock, Robert Morris, Morehead State and Youngstown State) as well as youth athletes and weekend warriors. I have a passion for educating others and myself while motivating people to achieve their health and life goals! 

I am currently 1 week out from a powerlifting meet in Canton Ohio that 11 other Union Fitness Crue members will be competing in (come out and show some love). This will be my second powerlifting meet and I am excited to crush my Squat, Bench and Deadlift personal records and make the UF Crue proud. Since I am 1 week out I will be reloading (we don’t deload, we reload) and working on recovering and prepping my body for the meet. I plan to do some light Squat, Bench and Deadlift work and then lighter bodybuilding movements just to get new blood flow to my muscles and work out any aches, pains and kinks I have in the old body. Heck, I might even get a massage from one of our great massage therapists at UF and I definitely will do some mobility. 

My excitement is building as we creep closer to “show time” (Beetlejuice voice). The motivation and training environment at UF with the Crue have been amazing for months now and we’re about to show Canton Ohio all the work we put in. I will say I am more confident and stronger than before and I can contribute that to all my training partners. November 9th is soon approaching and then it’s time to Get Bumpy. 

Stay Strong My Friends, 

Saturday Squat Training:

1a. Dynamic Warmup-Mobility-Band Glute Activation

2a. Speed Squats 3×3 Work on Technique

3a. Fatbell Reverse Lunges 2x8e 3b. Fatbell Single Leg RDL 2x8e

4a. GHRs 2×10 4b. Hanging Leg Raise 2×10

5a. Band Ankle & Lower Body Stretch 5b. Donnie Thompson Hip Series 5c. Body Tempering

6a. Recovery Shake & a solid meal

CJ

 

 

Energy Systems the Basics

Fitness, Training

If you want to get stronger, leaner or just generally in better shape you should begin with knowing the body. I do not think it is necessary to have a Phd in order to train, yet you should understand the basics of what you are doing. With that said I am going to touch on the basics of the three energy systems and give you a short example of each.

Before I delve into these understand that this is a very surface view of the three systems As with anything dealing with the human body these systems are not black and white and there is always some movement between them.

The first energy systems is referred to ATP/PC system. This system lasts for about 7 seconds of hard work. The easiest way to think about this system is if we were to do a 100 meter dash after about 6-7 seconds your body would begin to decelerate. If you look at the best 100 meter sprints of all time they all begin to decelerate around 60-70 meters. This is when the body must move from ATP/PC into the second energy system.

How does this apply to us? Anything we do for low reps would tend to fall into this system. plyometrics, explosive lifts or even a heavy single. This energy system is great for getting strong and explosive yet the total energy output isn’t great enough to create a huge caloric deficit so generally we will train this system on the first big lifts before we move into the other energy systems.

The second energy system is glycolysis. Without getting too scientific this is the system in which the body must take muscle glycogen and turn it into usable energy. The great part about this systems is it can be a huge tool for burning immense amounts of fat. Muscle glycogen is always sitting and waiting to be used. Once the glycogen is used up the body replenishes this with liver glycogen. I hope you are starting to see that this system has more processes and burns more calories.

Ironically, while glycolysis burns more total calories it also burns less fat and this is actually a good thing. This is the energy system that puts us in a calorie deficit and continues to burn more calories after the training session.

The way we train this energy system is anything that takes 30-60 seconds. So if you ever do repetition work and it burns that is the byproduct of this energy system. 12 pull ups would fall into this energy system as would 45 seconds of rows or anything for time. For a good variation use time for your accessory work instead of reps. One of my favorites is pick an exercise do it for 60 seconds then rest 60, then do 45 second and rest for 45, then 30/30 and 15 seconds to finish. Two things will happen with this method. First you will feel huge. Second, your body will burn a ton of calories.

The final energy system is aerobic. This is the energy system that burns almost all calories from fat. The downside to this energy system is that while we burn most calories from fat we also don’t create many processes that will burn calories post exercise. This energy system is generally used when we do a slow controlled activity over a long time. Think long slow bike ride or walk/jog. This is actually the energy system that we use as we sleep and sit at our desks.

How do we use this system? This system is best used for recovery as it is a lower stressor on the body. Use this system on an off day to move blood into the tissue without damaging the tissue. If you are a distance athlete I would spend more time in training this system yet if you goals are more diverse then I would use this system more for recovery then for training. The stress is not great enough to create major change.

All three systems are very different and each serves it’s own purpose in the body. When in doubt just work from the top down. Train the first system hard (ATP/PC) move to the second (glycolysis) and finish with some aerobic work. If that is all you do for one hour total work three times a week you would still be in better shape and stronger than most people.

 

Cayt’s October Training Log

Training, Uncategorized

The Live Large Fall Brawl meet is 3 weeks away for 10 of us at Union Fitness!  We are reaching our heaviest singles before we begin to de-load into meet day.  Although my body is about ready for a break, I am mentally in a really good spot and excited to see what happens that day.

 

The setup of my training has remained the same with one main lift, one supplemental movement targeting my weakness in that lift, and then accessory work.  With the three competition lifts including the squat, bench, and deadlift, I have been training in the double and single range with heavier weight and only using a straight bar.  Below is a breakdown of my struggles and attempts to fix each lift:

 

Squat: reaching depth always becomes an issue for me once the weight reaches my near-maximal intensity.  It is a habit I am continuing to try and break.  For the time being, Curtis has been calling me up once I reach depth on each heavy rep.  Following the main set, I have been doing longer pause sets to feel a bit more comfortable while in that position and to reinforce tightness coming out of the hole.

 

Bench: following my heavy bench sets, I have been doing Spoto presses with the goal of maintaining tightness right above my chest where I have been losing my lats and upper back tightness. I have also been having some bicep and shoulder pain which have been a continual issue on and off for a while now.  Some days I have no pain at all and some days I can’t reach my chest without a sharp pain.  I have no profound answers to this yet, but I have found a few things that help to relieve the pain.

  • Bicep curls lying face-up on an incline bench with light fatbells for 3 sets of 15. With these, I have been conscious of moving slowly through the full range of motion.
  • Two different banded movements for external rotation both with a light orange band. Recommended after squats and before bench but I have been doing a bit more often recently.
  • Banded shoulder distractions paired with band-assisted pec stretch. I use a thick orange or grey band to have enough band tension and hold both positions for around 30 seconds each.
  • Lacrosse ball subscap release (the ouchiest of all). This muscle is one of the four rotator cuff muscles but due to it being underneath the scapula we rarely ever stretch or move it through full range of motion. Laying sideways on top of the lacrosse ball and letting it slowly sink in the pocket has helped me so much with moving my shoulders.

 

Deadlift: There were many days that I did not like or trust dynamic work but my speed off of the floor and through lockout has noticeably improved.  More than that though, intentionally pulling every deadlift as if it were heavy has been the most beneficial lesson.  Building a mental checklist for my setup has also been a big component used as I approach each pull, no matter the weight.  I work my way up from the floor starting with my feet:

  1. Feet planted
  2. Sit back, knees out
  3. Engage lats
  4. Big breath
  5. Open up and pull

Following deadlifts, I have been doing banded RDL’s with fatbells.  You can also do these with a barbell.  The band will add a bit more resistance to fight through lockout.  I have had to be conscious to really squeeze my glutes through the top.

 

With these few things added recently, I am feeling very excited going into the meet! Until next time, my friends!

Lindsey’s October Training Log

Fitness, Training, Uncategorized

I’m 6 weeks away from the meet/marathon weekend, so training is getting more intense in the weight room and longer on the road. I won’t lie, while I am enjoying the hell out of training this way, I am tired and hungry pretty much all the time. As I type this, I’m fighting off sleep and downing a coffee cake and an oat milk fall spice latte (can’t help myself) for both the caffeine and the calories.

 

I’m extra fatigued today because a bit ago I finished a long workout that consisted of moderately heavy squat and bench singles, followed by a deadlift at 85% and my deadlift assistance. In essence, I’m mimicking a full meet on the day before my long run, as practice for the real thing. This is week three of this change, and so far it’s been valuable. I get some specialized practice in (using lift-specific bars, practicing commands, etc) and go into my run with a realistic amount of fatigue from lifting the day before.

 

This week:

 

FRIDAY Weight Sets Reps
Squat 235 5 1
Competition Bench 145 5 1
Competition Deadlift 305 1 2
  245 3 3
Romanian Deadlift 185 3 8
Single Leg RDL 35 3 10 per
Slow Eccentric Step Down – 3 8 per
Ab Wheel – 3 10
FB Side Bend 35 3 10 per
 

SATURDAY

      
Back Down Run 12 miles    

 

Running mileage builds up and backs down week to week. This is a back down week, where I focused on short and fast workouts on the weekdays and will just do an easy 12 on Saturday.

 

Next week, mile repeats on Tuesday around a 7:30 pace, a long tempo run at (or just faster than) race pace, then an 18 miler Saturday. Peaking will continue in my lifts. Just need to keep eating and do everything I can to get more sleep.

Mariah’s First Meet – A Recap for New Competitors

Fitness, Training, Uncategorized

If you’re someone who has casually lifted for a couple of years and might want to try a powerlifting meet – take a gander. First off, find a coach you trust and have full transparency in goals and expectations. They will be your guide to success and right-hand man/woman through your journey. I wouldn’t have done it without Ryan McCumber as mine, and the support of everyone at UF. I had decided last min (11 weeks out to be exact) to sign up for the Iron City Open, which would be my first ever meet!

 

Going through, I thought I could handle it: I’ve squatted, benched, and deadlifted before, what could be so different from what I usually do? But in reality, the training was more intense than I’d thought it would be. I had to prioritize even more on eating, more recovery, and still keep up with my full-time job (which at that time it had become overwhelming). Before, if you missed a scheduled gym day it was not a huge deal, but when competing, every session is necessary. I understand the pressure of juggling your life with training. But let me tell you, it’s POSSIBLE!

 

  1. Meal prep ahead of time or weekends whenever you’re free: it will save time and keep your energy high! And check out our food blogs for yummy suggestions or our new partnership with Fit Fresh Kitchen Co.! I love Jodie’s meals.
  2. Make sure if you have questions on your program or how to recover stay connected with your coach. I’m still learning and I’m sure everyone else is too. Nothing is too insignificant to ask.
  3. Watch videos to educate yourself as well. I love watching meets and researching other techniques or even vlogs to hear others speak about their struggles or successes training for a meet.
  4. Don’t be so hard on yourself – it’s your first meet! I told myself not to put so much pressure on myself and that I would have fun with this one. Guess what? You’re human, you’re going to have bad days and good ones.

 

One of the things I would have done differently is given myself more weeks to train With just 11 weeks, it felt rushed and overwhelming. Additionally, at that time I was training outside of UF, so I didn’t have a lot of face to face time with my coach. That would have been extra helpful for the days I wanted to check my form or needed help with a certain exercise. That’s why recording yourself and taking videos are so so important! So, if you are in my situation in a gym apart from your coach (or are out of your normal gym for travel or any other reason) you can refer back to video and review with him/her.

 

So, the day finally comes! I was nervous but excited and a little confused about what to do. I sat in the training area with all the lifters and friends. My coach was there for any questions and to guide me throughout the day. I went in with a mindset of potential PRs but wanted to make sure that didn’t affect the fun aspect of the day. We all are aiming for goals, but I think the best thing about the day was that everyone is there to support everyone, even if you don’t know them. I’ve never been in such a great community. I would recommend to any new lifters or first-time competitors, just do it! We are all here for you!

 

Stay focused and Stay hungry my friends!

 

Recap:

Squat: 148.8lbs

Bench: 93.7lbs

Deadlift:203.9

Getting the Most Out of Your Training Program: Part II

Fitness, Life Health, Training, Uncategorized

by Lindsey Pogson

Part 2: Trust the Process

 

Welcome to part two in this series on getting as much out of your custom training program as you possibly can. If you didn’t read part one (on providing detailed feedback), head on over that way now. Done? Great.

 

Now that you and your coach are on the same page as far as how the weights are feeling and what work you’re actually doing, you’re ready for the next step. You need to decide to put your trust in that coach and actually follow along with the program as written.

 

When you started with your coach – whether it’s one of us at UF, another in-person coach, or an online coach – you almost certainly had a chat about what you wanted to achieve with the program. Those goals are the backbone of your program’s design. If you came into your goal-setting meeting with the objective of losing 10lbs over the next two months, your program will reflect that. If you went in with the goal of doing your first powerlifting meet, your program will be designed to prepare you to compete in that sport. If you wanted to run a sub-20 minute 5k, your program will be put together with the intent to get you there.

 

Seems obvious right? Your coach puts together a program to help you reach your specific goal. So with that in mind, it’s in your best interest to FOLLOW THE PROGRAM.

 

At the beginning of every program, this is easy. You’re excited, you’re learning some new things, you’re fresh, it feels good. A few weeks in, things start getting a little harder. Suddenly you’re doing a lot of single-leg accessory movements and you’re bad at them so you hate them with a passion. Your coach is programming 3 minutes of rest between sprints and you don’t feel like you really NEED it and think you’d be better off resting less. You asked for a 7 day per week 2-a-day program because you want to do MORE but your coach put you on 4 days per week and you think you’ll just throw in some extra classes here and there because you sleep plenty and recover just fine. Your coach programmed a heavy single at 205 but 225 isn’t THAT far off so that shouldn’t be a problem, right?

 

I get it. I’ve been there too. That attitude sucks and is not helping you actually reach your goals.

There are a few hard truths we all have to swallow when striving towards big things. The first and hardest is that we don’t know everything.

On some level we understand that, since we decided to go to a professional for help in the first place! But when things come up that we don’t like, we can sometimes start to question that professional.

 

“No one knows me like I know myself, and I KNOW that I can handle more work than this.”

 

And you may very well be right! But fortunately/unfortunately, reaching a goal isn’t an exercise in running yourself into the ground. There’s some strategy involved. And often that strategy involves doing things you don’t want to do – be that training more, training less, training movements you hate and are bad at, doing more cardio, doing NO cardio, etc.

 

You went to a pro, so trust that pro. But know that you can ALWAYS ask questions. And you should! If your coach can’t give you a thoughtful reason for what they programmed, they’re not doing their job.

Hard truth number two: to reach one goal, you need to put all the others on the backburner.

If you go into your goal-setting meeting and tell your coach that your primary objective is to lose 30lbs by the end of the year, expect your program to actually reflect that over everything else. That means strength gains are NOT the priority, and will NOT be the focus of that program. Your coach will likely want to maintain your strength but isn’t going to push you to test for new maxes.

 

Conversely, if you go in saying you want to hit a 1000lb total by the end of the year, you’d best expect to see verrrrrry little cardio on your programming sheet.

 

Changes like these can be uncomfortable. It sucks to not be able to “do it all.” But it’s really more accurate to say that you just can’t do it all RIGHT NOW. Take 4 months to prioritize weight loss, then take a break from your deficit and the hard supersets and spend 2 months really working on strength while eating to maintain. If you can do that instead of trying to half-ass everything, you’ll be ahead of the game.

Hard truth number three: you’ll be tempted to go off track. You get to choose what’s more important – instant gratification or actually achieving your long term goals.

I can guarantee one day you’ll be in the gym doing what you’re supposed to do and someone will suggest you throw it all by the wayside and max out that day. Sometimes that will be a training partner or someone else in class, but often it’s that little voice in the back of our head asking “Is this actually working? Am I actually stronger/faster, or am I just spinning my wheels?”

 

At that moment, you have a choice. You can go for instant gratification – test a new bench rep max, or finish your long slow run as fast as you possibly can. You’ll feel good in that moment, with proof that you CAN do that thing. But consider now that you just did something extremely taxing, that requires recovery. You did it at a point in your training cycle that didn’t ACTUALLY make much sense and may make the other things you need to do that day/week/month a little bit harder. You might have a competition coming up, an event where you really needed to be peaked and ready, but that max attempt threw your schedule off a little.

 

Were you really doing that for yourself and your goals? Or did your ego need a boost? That’s your call.

 

Ultimately, it’s your program. They’re your goals to achieve. Your coach is there to put together a guide to help you get there, using all of their knowledge and training. You can choose to trust that guide or continue doing what you’ve always done. Know that it’s a choice, and the choice is yours.

Curtis’ September Training Log

Fitness, Training, Uncategorized

Getting to this point in my training has been an interesting, journey. I am currently 6 weeks out from my first full powerlifting meet since the first annual Iron City Open in June of 2018. Since then, I have battled with a few injuries that have been just enough of a burden to keep me from being able to train consistently. For a quick recap: this past January I strained my glute at the beginning of a meet prep. In March, 3 weeks out from that same meet, I partially tore my hamstring and was unable to fully compete. After going through 8 weeks of recovery afterward, I got back into training consistently with the goal of getting back on the platform this November. Then, 2 months ago, I strained my IT band while squatting immediately after a long car ride back home to Maryland. I was frustrated, confused, and didn’t really know what direction to take. After getting some help and guidance from a few close friends, including my mentor Casey Williams, I have been able to fix and correct many of the underlying issues that were the cause of these injuries. I am currently feeling and moving better than I have in a very long time. This past week was a good week for me, both physically and mentally. It was my first week getting back into the competition lifts, and adding some decent weight to the bar. Here’s a breakdown of this past week of training.

 

Saturday: 

Competition squats: Worked up to 625×2.

Paused belt squat: 6 plates per side: 3×8

45 degree back extensions: 3×12 with red band

Alternating fatbell reverse lunges: 3×10 each leg with 30s

Weighted planks: 3×30 seconds with 45lbs. 

 

Monday:

Fat bar bench press: 3×3 @ 335lbs + 80lb chain

Flat bench dumbbell press: 2×20 with 115s

Tricep skull crushers: 4×12 @ 95lbs

Chest supported row: 4×10 @ 100lbs

Cable tricep extensions: 4×20 @ 80lbs

Band pull aparts: 4×25

 

Wednesday:

Competition deadlift: 2×3 @ 635 & 655

Barbell RDLs: 3×8 @ 315

Bent over barbell rows: 3×8 @ 275

GHR: 3×10

Weighted planks: 3×30 seconds with 45lbs.

 

Thursday:

Dynamic effort bench: 8×3 @ 175 + doubled red minis & 1 chain

Incline Dumbbell press: 4×10 with 100s

Standing single arm overhead fatbell press: 3×10 each arm @ 60lbs

Fatbell tricep extension: 4×20,15,12,10

Cable face pulls: 4×25 @ 70lbs

Seated fatbell shrugs: 3×15 paused with 50s

 

Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays consist of light stretching, mobility, and a few Physical Therapy exercises courtesy of my good friend Jared Caroff.

 

Although it’s been frustrating at times, I’ve enjoyed the ups and downs of getting to this point. I’ve learned a lot (both about my body, and myself as a person) and am looking forward to the road ahead. With every challenge comes a new opportunity to learn and to grow.