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Leaders from all 32 member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will gather on July 7-8 in the Turkish capital of Ankara, including United States President Donald Trump, whose threats to withdraw from NATO and reduce U.S. troop levels abroad have raised questions about the alliance’s future.

Friction around Europe’s refusal to materially support the U.S. in the Iran War, and Trump’s threats to annex Greenland—which European nations jointly called “dangerous”—have also tested the group's unity. 

Read More: NATO May Not Survive the Trump Era

Here’s what to know about the 36th NATO Summit.

Who will be attending?

NATO members usually meet at least once a year to coordinate defensive strategy, and this year is no different. The leaders of all 32 participating countries, based in Western Europe and North America, are expected to attend.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, European Council President Antonio Costa, ​and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are expected to join a dinner with NATO leaders on Tuesday.

Leaders are also to meet with representatives of Middle Eastern nations such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, and NATO defense ministers are set to hold ​talks with ministers from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea.

What are the key topics leaders plan to address?

NATO's website lists three "key topics" for the forthcoming summit: defense investment, increased defense production, and long-term support plans for Ukraine against Russia.

At last year’s summit in The Hague, the countries agreed to spend 5% of annual GDP on “core defense requirements as well as defense-and security-related spending” by 2035, a large jump from the previous 2% guideline laid out by the organization.

Leaders will likely look to prove that they are making strides toward that goal after Trump complained last week on social media that the U.S. “spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte confirmed defense spending as a priority on Monday, when he demanded that the allies put forward “clear, concrete, and credible plans” to reach the organization’s spending targets.

“President Trump fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to 5% and do it with urgency,” Rutte said, adding: “The evidence we see so far is impressive.”

NATO members ​are also expected to reaffirm support for Ukraine against Russia and promise continued material assistance.

In advance of the summit, Zelensky called on countries present to make “strong decisions” after at least 15 people were killed in Kyiv by a Russian bombardment of drones and missiles.

“The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror,” he said.

His entreaty comes amid munitions and stockpile concerns linked to the U.S.-Iran War. Ukraine was already facing a shortage of U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles, which are especially effective against Russian ballistic missiles. But with resources diverted to fighting Iran, Ukraine is facing an even more dire shortage.

“Our warriors performed well today in intercepting drones and cruise missiles, but unfortunately not Russian ballistic missiles. And the reason lies in the insufficient supply of interceptor missiles,” Zelensky said in his post on social media. 

Read More: The U.S. Military Drawdown in Europe Has Only Just Begun

How the Iran War is adding pressure on NATO

It remains unclear whether the war with Iran will be formally addressed at this year's NATO Summit. The conflict, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, has become a major source of tension within the alliance. 

According to Reuters, leaders are expected to say in a summit declaration that “Iran must never have a nuclear weapon and call on Iran to fully respect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Trump has, however, expressed frustration with several NATO members after they declined to provide military support for the U.S.- and Israel-led campaign.

“We helped them [Europe] with Ukraine. … But when we needed them, they were not there. We have to remember that,” Trump told the press in May. At the same time, he said he would consider withdrawing troops from Italy and Spain. In Germany, the Trump Administration went through with this goal, announcing the withdrawal of about 5,000 troops from Germany, following a “thorough review of the Department’s force posture in Europe.”

Regardless of whether the topics are directly addressed, tensions around the Iran War and America’s potential military drawdown in Europe will likely loom large over the summit. 

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool repair will be handled by the same company that won the no-bid contract to renovate the pool in the first place, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has confirmed.

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Burgum claimed, without providing evidence, that the cuts at the bottom of the pool were caused by vandals. He also said that the pool will be “partially drained” in order to make necessary repairs in the coming weeks.

“We’ll use the same company, because they did a fantastic job,” Burgum explained, while declining to answer how much the repair itself would cost. In a separate interview with ABC News, Burgum said it would be “a small number.”

“Every farmer and rancher in America… knows that it [the coating] would never just peel off or fall off. This is a strong material,” Burgum said. “The only way you can end up with actual slices in one spot and not the other is that someone physically cut it.”

Following the peeling of the painting at the bottom of the pool, the Trump administration said it has arrested seven people in connection to the alleged crime of vandalism. Burgum claimed that the administration has “video and eyewitness reports” that would support the charges, but so far has not presented any evidence to the public. One of the suspects, David Carter Hearn, a former Olympian, denied the charges and said he only reached his hand into the water and touched a strip of the peeling paint. 

“The reflecting pool had gone for, you know, decades without vandalism, but now we've got cameras up and we've got more eyes on it... if anyone were to do something now, we would have better video evidence of that happening,” Burgum said. 

The companies that won the no-bid contracts 

Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a construction company that President Trump said has previously worked on his swimming pool at his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, initially won a $13.1 million no-bid contract despite having no previous experience in federal construction. The cost later ballooned to $14.6 million, with additional work from the National Park Service, federal records show. The company was tasked to repaint and waterproof the pool's concrete floor, which Trump previously claimed that the renovation would cost under $2 million. 

According to the New York Times, Atlantic Industrial Coatings submitted a bid that charged 20 percent of profit margin, far exceeding the usual profit margins for other federal contractors which range from six percent to 12 percent. The bidding process as well as the quality of the company’s work are both now under congressional investigations. 

Aside from the peeling of the waterproof coating, the reflecting pool has been plagued by an algae bloom, a persistent problem due to Washington’s high heat during the summer and the pool’s shallow depth, which creates an ideal biological incubator. Previously, the Obama administration spent approximately $34 million trying to solve those problems, but failed to keep the algae from growing.

Last month, the reflecting pool turned from blue to green days after the renovation was complete, and contractors were seen pouring bottles of hydrogen peroxide into the pool in an attempt to kill the algae.

During the interview, Burgum also said the green algae that was permeating the pool has now been fixed, thanks to nanobubbler technology that pumps tiny ozone bubbles into the water to damage algae’s cells. In April, the contract was awarded to Green Water Solutions, a water purification company from Ohio also known as Greenwater Services, without a bidding process, for $1.7 million.

The owner of the company, John J. Cafaro, has been a longtime donor to Trump’s campaign since 2016, FEC filings show. In 2010, Cafaro pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations over donations to his daughter's congressional campaign. He also pleaded guilty to bribing a Democratic congressman from Ohio in 2001. 

In an interview with CNN, Chas Antinone Jr., COO of Greenwater Services, admitted they have never used their nanobubbler technology on a pool before, but remained confident that the company’s technology can treat the water. 

“The water is relatively the same as the water that you would see out in a regular lake  somewhere,” Antinone said. 

Strength training is having a moment—and, whether on #GymTok or the real gym, the emphasis is largely on lifting heavy. “That's one key attribute for not just bigger muscles, but stronger muscles and stronger bones,” says Abbie Smith-Ryan, a professor of exercise physiology and nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Yet “heavy” is a relative term. The same barbell that feels nearly impossible for a novice to pick up might be a cinch for an experienced lifter. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) defines “heavy” as 80% or more of what’s called your “one rep maximum,” meaning the heaviest possible weight you could lift once. Exercise physiologist Rachelle Acitelli Reed says this translates to something that’s very, very hard to do four to six repetitions with. “You're squeaking out that last rep, and probably exhaling audibly,” she says. It’s so challenging that many of us avoid it—particularly women who might have been warned that it would create bulky muscles.

Yet many fitness trainers encourage heavy lifting because it makes training more efficient. Doing a biceps curl with 50-pound dumbbells gives the muscles a much bigger stimulus than 5-pounders, so you can tire them out—and therefore see results—faster. 

Heavy weights can also uniquely combat some of the changes to our muscles that naturally come with aging. Smith-Ryan explains that as we get older, we tend to lose some of the strength-oriented, “fast-twitch” muscle fibers that are responsible for producing force. “We can prevent some of that with heavier lifting,” she says. Our bone mineral density also benefits, since hoisting heavy things against the pull of gravity stimulates the bone tissue to rebuild, according to James McKendry, an assistant professor of  nutrition and healthy aging at the University of British Columbia. 

But, he says, “I think the push for heavier loads being the only mechanism to preserve bone is a little misplaced. Lifting weights of any resistance can be effective.” 

Many exercise scientists today agree that heavier isn’t always better. “If you actually look at the science, there’s so many instances where the more moderate dose is very appropriate,” Reed says. Earlier this year, the ACSM published a position stand based on the findings of 137 reviews emphasizing that many kinds of resistance training—including many kinds of weights, or “loads”—can generate results.

The ideal weight depends on your goals

Not everyone heads to the gym for the same reason. The guy next to you might be grunting under that massive weight plate simply because he’s working toward a new bench press personal record.  

“If you are trying to maximally build the most amount of strength, using a heavy load is pretty much the only way that you're going to [do it],” McKendry says. This is thanks to the exercise-science principle of specificity: You’ll get better at whatever you do over and over. So if you want to win a Strongman competition, you’ll need to regularly practice pumping the heaviest iron you can. 

But if you’re more focused on building bigger (not the strongest) muscles, ACSM says effort is more important than load. You just need to keep working close to the point—within one to three reps, McKendry says—that your muscles are no longer able to pull off another lift with good form. Nearly any weights that get you to this point can trigger muscle growth; using lighter ones will simply take longer.    

Maybe your goal is to build more muscular power with moves like kettlebell swings and power cleans. (While this might seem like a niche concern exclusively for athletes, McKendry argues it’s essential for anyone who wants to be able to catch themselves from a trip or fall.) For this, the ACSM recommends a more moderate weight, between 30 and 70% of your one-rep max. Since the benefit comes from moving as quickly as possible during the lifting phase, you need a weight that’s light enough to let you get some speed.  

Then there’s muscular endurance. “Performing one-repetition maximums doesn't translate to better performance particularly well for marathon runners or triathletes,” McKendry says. Thanks to that principle of specificity, a better bet for these folks, he says, is to aim for lots of reps with lighter weights to train the muscles to keep contracting repeatedly over time.

When lighter works better 

Fitness goals aside, there are plenty of people for whom heavy weights simply aren't as appropriate. Maybe they’ve never stepped in a weight room before and need to learn good form first. Maybe they have joint issues or osteoarthritis or an injury that would make a heavy weight inadvisable. “I'm never going to get my mom in her 60s started lifting at 90% of her one-rep max,” Reed says. “Instead, I'd start with a lower load to build technique and the neuromuscular connection, improve confidence, and then progress up to a more moderate load and keep her close to that.”

For many people, heavy weights can simply be so intimidating that we avoid lifting at all. Less than a third of Americans say they do strength training twice a week—the government’s recommended minimum—and nearly 60% percent do no muscle-strengthening activities regularly. “The best weight you can choose is the weight that you're going to lift consistently, safely, and keep coming back to,” McKendry says. 

He points out that most people go to the gym just to get a little fitter and healthier—and for that, nearly any weight will do, as long as you regularly give your muscles a solid challenge. “There's been years of arguing about the right rep and set scheme or the perfect weight,” Reed says. “But what the evidence consistently shows is that we just need people to do something.”