Read the following news:
And here's my outlook...
In summary, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) wants to update the IPPT system to 'stay relevant' by removing the SBJ station and amending the running segment of the test. The SBJ station maybe replaced by Push-ups and the usual 2.4 km run would have it's distance increased by 0.8 km to 3.2 km.
From a sports science point of view, the push-ups and pull-ups / chin-ups exercises stresses the upper body and both exercises are compound exercises (exercises that involves multiple muscle groups simultaneously) with emphasis on stressing the upper body muscle groups. By doing 2 upper body compound exercises (push-ups and pull-ups / chin-ups), the person would be tired out more quickly and the physical performance would deteriorate.
The running portion of the IPPT test (currently is 2.4 km) is one of the 'Most-Failed' segment of the IPPT test. Trying to increase the distance to 3.2 km would be a particularly bad decision and there maybe an increase in failure rates.
Overall, the changes to the current IPPT system is not at all pleasant nor logical as the implementers of IPPT have not yet found a sound way to reduce the amount of failure rates in IPPT and yet wants to further modify the IPPT system for the worse.
What have to be understood is that the civilian conscripts have their own life and are different from full-time servicemen who have the time and energy available to train for long hours to prepare themselves physically for these IPPT tests. The civilian male population have to work in a competitive local environment where their jobs are being challenged by the ever quickly expanding local population and after a hard day's / week's work, they have to prepare for IPPT and National Service.
That is way too much things for the civilian male population in Singapore to do. How would the civilian population be able to pass their IPPT ?
Also, imagine you are the boss of a company, would you want an employee to
come to you to take a few hours off for their IPT/RT/IPPT sessions or to
leave for a week or a month to attend for NS matters ? My boss once
asked me the relevance of all these IPPT system when I was about to
leave work to tend to IPPT matters and I was unable to reply him.There
is a saying that time itself is money and wasted time is money lost.
Which company would want their employees leave work earlier to tend to
NS matters which would cost the company precious work hours and
indirectly lose possible profits ?
What is the true significance of IPPT when it has not much sense to it ?
Please read my earlier posts regarding my dissection of the IPPT system to understand much of the woes of this IPPT system.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Issues with Government manged Fitness Training
I have been attending RT (Re-training) sessions for the country's IPPT system due to failing the IPPT test. Here are my views on the overall RT training that I have experienced so far.
The allocated time for RT training is 4 hours (that's really a lot of time being allocated which we could use for something more constructive) and the session itself takes around 2 hours or abit more with rest time inclusive. Each session is further sub-divided into a few training parts that depends on the trainer your training group (you are group according to what you failed) gets assigned as each trainer has their own styles and preferences.
The first portion of the training is usually games and some games are really senseless and pointless (e.g. complex version of musical chair with buddy systems and unlimited / endless chasing around). By the time we are done with the first part of the games, we would have been dead tired and spent half of our vigour on that alone. This is not really a good sign as we need to manage our energy levels for the other 2 or 3 parts of training we have not done yet.
The rest of the training segments are simply straight out training after that and the effectiveness of different training regimes and strategies depends on the trainer's preference.
For the most part, I personally feel that much of the training implemented are not really so effective due to inconsistencies in training strategies between different trainers per session.
Safety is also a big issue. Recently (17th Oct 2013), someone in Bedok FCC collapsed and fainted during RT training. The rumour is that the person collapsed due to heat stroke. I personally saw the poor guy being carried off in a stretcher by the medic and some trainers and his eyes were staring blankly in space. That was one hell of an eerie glare from a person who had fainted. I heard another rumour yesterday (19th Oct 2013) that someone got injured yet again and this time is carted around on a wheelchair.
Seeing injuries and knockouts occurring so frequently during RT training lessons is really giving me the chills up my spine. Due to training being conducted in different regions of the FCC for different types of training, it's very hard to track everyone's status (especially health) and 'You' don't have so many medics to deploy. Safety without causing too much problems for trainers and 'Us' should be given a deep thought. A suggestion is to have a wardrobe of spare exercise clothings for rent (of course a fee maybe collected for renting out clothings) for those who do not have proper attire instead of denying them access to training.
In an attempt to make training sessions fun (good attempt though), safety and consistency must be key. 'You' should not design games that would turn into an infinite loop of chasing and wasting half tank of energy. Energy and vigour is really precious to everyone. We come from work and some of us traveled a long distance to come for training and arrived at the FCC really tired.
During some of the trainings, we are required to go all out when it's not even our last portion for the day. So real thought have to be put into properly conserving and utilizing energy to allow 'Us' to last longer during the training sessions. 'We' cannot just simply burn all our energy just for a portion of the session as it does not make sense to do really well in one portion of the training and do badly in another portion.
In general, the difference betweeen IPT training and RT training is that for the former, you may apply for IPT training as a preparatory training to 'prepare You' (making you 'healthy) whereas RT is training once you have been deemed failed in your 'fitness' in accordance to the standards set by the Government. For IPT, you have 18 sessions (discount of 2 sessions) whereas for RT you have the entire 20 sessions. What is the difference of just that 2 session ? I do not really know. It's just 8 hours of discount (4 hours allocated per session x 2 session).
There are IPPT test every 8th and 18th lessons for both RT and IPT so if you pass any of the test, 'You' have completed the entire training course for the year and 'Your' obligation to Government's all-reaching and undeniable contracts that we do not have a choice to accept or deny (because we are born as Singasporeans...).
'You' appear for training (somehow) dragging 'Your' feet and do some training that may or may not help 'Your fitness' and must complete 18/20 lessons and every lesson to the next one 'You' only have a few days (1 - 2 days) of rest as 'You' are trying to complete so many lessons within just 3 months.
Do 'You' think 'You' have the energy and preparations ready to attempt to pass the tests conducted on the 8th and 16th lessons ? I honestly do not have the energy nor time to prepare myself for these in-between tests. If I were to not plan all my sessions in advance for the 18/20 lessons, I would not be able to complete the current year's training and I will be punished according to the 'Law of Singapore' under the so-called 'Enlistment Act' or whatever 'Act' they call it... some fanciful name someone thought of long time ago...
I am trying to rush to complete all the lessons, trying to fulfill 'National Requirements for Male Singapore Citizens', trying to be effective in my daily life and working life (I am a working adult) and trying to find time to spend with my family and friends... oh and not to mention ... struggling to keep up with my own personal life ....
I am trying so hard to do so many things ... fulfill so much invisible requirements ... how can I not be stressed out trying to get everything done perfectly ?
I wanted to add some gym routines into my free time but due to all these above requirements ... especially the pretty unhealthy (due to injury and death rates) and useless (most exercises given are proven to be effective) 'National Requirements for Male Singapore Citizens', I do not have time to go gym nor do I have energy left for the next few days after all these running and jumping and nonsense from that 'National Requirements for Male Singapore Citizens'.
Would it not be healthier for the 'Male Citizens of Singapore' to be given time to train on their own without stress from tests and some 'National Fitness regimes.. IPPT system' and by changing the hectic culture of this country by slowing down the pace of life here ?
If 'You' were to slow down the pace of life here, the quality of living would improve tremendously and who wouldn't want to go out for a nice evening jog if they ever had the time to do so or hit out at the gym to pump some iron and get their hearts beating fast and furious from some good hearty workout ? 'You' would be able to get everyone healthy without needing to spend a single cent (paying Cisco for fitness sessions, paying 'Us' for every session of training and paying people who achieve awards). Those money would have been able to be re-diverted for something better.
Come on, give 'Us' a break... 'We' are tired with 'Your' nonsense and tired of putting on this show for 'You' by pretending to be subservient to 'Your' causes.
If you are truely and honestly interested in listening to 'Us', give 'Us' a break for starters. Remove the IPPT system for starters. It's honestly not working. 'You' think it works because the numbers look nice on 'Your' corporate spreadsheet but on the ground it is purely nonsense. If the removal of the IPPT system looks tough, you should reduce all the sessions to 5 or 10 sessions for starters and remove the subsequent tests. Make this IPPT system into a 'National Forum' to exchange knowledge in a true democratic style instead of subjecting 'Us' to useless nonsense.
Creating a truely democratic 'National Forum' is 'Your' next goal into reversing the sleepiness of this country's progress and to revitalize the people physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Putting everyone on equal grounds is that next step 'You' need to take.
I hope you are not sleeping in front of your computer once you have reached this end portion of this really long blog post.
More spicy stuff coming next time....
The allocated time for RT training is 4 hours (that's really a lot of time being allocated which we could use for something more constructive) and the session itself takes around 2 hours or abit more with rest time inclusive. Each session is further sub-divided into a few training parts that depends on the trainer your training group (you are group according to what you failed) gets assigned as each trainer has their own styles and preferences.
The first portion of the training is usually games and some games are really senseless and pointless (e.g. complex version of musical chair with buddy systems and unlimited / endless chasing around). By the time we are done with the first part of the games, we would have been dead tired and spent half of our vigour on that alone. This is not really a good sign as we need to manage our energy levels for the other 2 or 3 parts of training we have not done yet.
The rest of the training segments are simply straight out training after that and the effectiveness of different training regimes and strategies depends on the trainer's preference.
For the most part, I personally feel that much of the training implemented are not really so effective due to inconsistencies in training strategies between different trainers per session.
Safety is also a big issue. Recently (17th Oct 2013), someone in Bedok FCC collapsed and fainted during RT training. The rumour is that the person collapsed due to heat stroke. I personally saw the poor guy being carried off in a stretcher by the medic and some trainers and his eyes were staring blankly in space. That was one hell of an eerie glare from a person who had fainted. I heard another rumour yesterday (19th Oct 2013) that someone got injured yet again and this time is carted around on a wheelchair.
Seeing injuries and knockouts occurring so frequently during RT training lessons is really giving me the chills up my spine. Due to training being conducted in different regions of the FCC for different types of training, it's very hard to track everyone's status (especially health) and 'You' don't have so many medics to deploy. Safety without causing too much problems for trainers and 'Us' should be given a deep thought. A suggestion is to have a wardrobe of spare exercise clothings for rent (of course a fee maybe collected for renting out clothings) for those who do not have proper attire instead of denying them access to training.
In an attempt to make training sessions fun (good attempt though), safety and consistency must be key. 'You' should not design games that would turn into an infinite loop of chasing and wasting half tank of energy. Energy and vigour is really precious to everyone. We come from work and some of us traveled a long distance to come for training and arrived at the FCC really tired.
During some of the trainings, we are required to go all out when it's not even our last portion for the day. So real thought have to be put into properly conserving and utilizing energy to allow 'Us' to last longer during the training sessions. 'We' cannot just simply burn all our energy just for a portion of the session as it does not make sense to do really well in one portion of the training and do badly in another portion.
In general, the difference betweeen IPT training and RT training is that for the former, you may apply for IPT training as a preparatory training to 'prepare You' (making you 'healthy) whereas RT is training once you have been deemed failed in your 'fitness' in accordance to the standards set by the Government. For IPT, you have 18 sessions (discount of 2 sessions) whereas for RT you have the entire 20 sessions. What is the difference of just that 2 session ? I do not really know. It's just 8 hours of discount (4 hours allocated per session x 2 session).
There are IPPT test every 8th and 18th lessons for both RT and IPT so if you pass any of the test, 'You' have completed the entire training course for the year and 'Your' obligation to Government's all-reaching and undeniable contracts that we do not have a choice to accept or deny (because we are born as Singasporeans...).
'You' appear for training (somehow) dragging 'Your' feet and do some training that may or may not help 'Your fitness' and must complete 18/20 lessons and every lesson to the next one 'You' only have a few days (1 - 2 days) of rest as 'You' are trying to complete so many lessons within just 3 months.
Do 'You' think 'You' have the energy and preparations ready to attempt to pass the tests conducted on the 8th and 16th lessons ? I honestly do not have the energy nor time to prepare myself for these in-between tests. If I were to not plan all my sessions in advance for the 18/20 lessons, I would not be able to complete the current year's training and I will be punished according to the 'Law of Singapore' under the so-called 'Enlistment Act' or whatever 'Act' they call it... some fanciful name someone thought of long time ago...
I am trying to rush to complete all the lessons, trying to fulfill 'National Requirements for Male Singapore Citizens', trying to be effective in my daily life and working life (I am a working adult) and trying to find time to spend with my family and friends... oh and not to mention ... struggling to keep up with my own personal life ....
I am trying so hard to do so many things ... fulfill so much invisible requirements ... how can I not be stressed out trying to get everything done perfectly ?
I wanted to add some gym routines into my free time but due to all these above requirements ... especially the pretty unhealthy (due to injury and death rates) and useless (most exercises given are proven to be effective) 'National Requirements for Male Singapore Citizens', I do not have time to go gym nor do I have energy left for the next few days after all these running and jumping and nonsense from that 'National Requirements for Male Singapore Citizens'.
Would it not be healthier for the 'Male Citizens of Singapore' to be given time to train on their own without stress from tests and some 'National Fitness regimes.. IPPT system' and by changing the hectic culture of this country by slowing down the pace of life here ?
If 'You' were to slow down the pace of life here, the quality of living would improve tremendously and who wouldn't want to go out for a nice evening jog if they ever had the time to do so or hit out at the gym to pump some iron and get their hearts beating fast and furious from some good hearty workout ? 'You' would be able to get everyone healthy without needing to spend a single cent (paying Cisco for fitness sessions, paying 'Us' for every session of training and paying people who achieve awards). Those money would have been able to be re-diverted for something better.
Come on, give 'Us' a break... 'We' are tired with 'Your' nonsense and tired of putting on this show for 'You' by pretending to be subservient to 'Your' causes.
If you are truely and honestly interested in listening to 'Us', give 'Us' a break for starters. Remove the IPPT system for starters. It's honestly not working. 'You' think it works because the numbers look nice on 'Your' corporate spreadsheet but on the ground it is purely nonsense. If the removal of the IPPT system looks tough, you should reduce all the sessions to 5 or 10 sessions for starters and remove the subsequent tests. Make this IPPT system into a 'National Forum' to exchange knowledge in a true democratic style instead of subjecting 'Us' to useless nonsense.
Creating a truely democratic 'National Forum' is 'Your' next goal into reversing the sleepiness of this country's progress and to revitalize the people physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Putting everyone on equal grounds is that next step 'You' need to take.
I hope you are not sleeping in front of your computer once you have reached this end portion of this really long blog post.
More spicy stuff coming next time....
Monday, October 7, 2013
Health & IPPT in SG
Singapore's fast-pace modern lifestyle meant that people will usually work long hours and when they get back home, they will need to handle their families and not to forget, the deadly public transport during peak hour can be intense.
The Singapore Government's answer to these health issues is to push campaigns to attempt a futile effort to try and attract more people to a "healthy lifestyle". Both hard and soft tactics were used in an attempt.
Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT) is one of the methods the Singapore Government employ to ensure that their male NSmen population are "healthy" by forcing them by law to participate in a 9-month yearly physical fitness test which accesses the individual's physical health by attempting 5 different "physically challenging" stations.
Below is a list of the 5 test stations for IPPT and some of my thoughts:
- Chin-up / Pull-up:- Upper body strength test. Logical and works.
- Sit-up:- The idea for sit-ups station is to execute as many sit-ups within 60 seconds. I don't see how it can be used as an indicator of health.- A strong abdominal core is one that can take loads on it. One of the ways to train the abdominal muscles in bodybuilding is to add weights when doing crunches. Speed (how many crunches you can do in fix amount of time) does not mean your core is strong.
- Standing Broad Jump (SBJ):- The idea for SBJ is to test the lower limb's strength. There are two ways to master SBJ. One way is to be good at it without techniques and the other way is to have a good knowledge of techniques. I managed to pass my SBJ by figuring out a set of techniques that focuses on breathing and positioning of the body and it has nothing to do with using sheer strength to accomplish the SBJ.- I would presume that the SBJ is used to test the muscular strength of the lower limbs but a better test for the muscular strength of the lower limbs would simply not be SBJ as you could get away with it by understanding body mechanics and use techniques to overcome it.
- Shuttle Run:- Shuttle Run is supposed to test our overall body's ability to coordinate. I really don't know why anyone would want to test someone's flexibility and coordination. How does flexibility and body coordination got to do with the body's health ?
- 2.4 km Run / Jog / Walk:- One can categorize running into 2 broad categories which are endurance and speed. If you want to test endurance, you would need to get a person to run a fairly long distance without stopping. If you want to test a person's speed, you get them to sprint for short distance. In a 2.4 km test, you are allowed to walk, jog, sprint, cruise or stop moving. 2.4 km by itself is not a long distance for endurance test but it's a fairly long distance to test one's ability to move quickly. The 2.4km test is a classical example of the testers not knowing what they want to test and simply include everything into the test and hope it works. This test imparts the wrong knowledge regarding running and health to uneducated people.
To summarize my analysis of the IPPT test stations, the testers really have very little clue on what they want to test (except chin-ups since everyone knows chin-ups is one of the best gauge of the upper body's strength).
Now, let's look at the IPPT window scheme. The previous scheme's time period for IPPT was 12 months but it has been reduced to 9 months which would inevitably encounter a spike in the amount of failures by reducing the amount of time involuntary participants (who are forced by the law of Singapore to participate) have to prepare themselves for the test.
We need to consider that the pace of life and the lifestyle is centred around business and economics. The increasing population of Singapore causes the transport network to be flooded during the evenings and mornings when office workers have to get on and off work. When a person goes back home, they will be badly tired (both mentally and physically) and they have families and friends to attend to too.
Instead of having a fixed one size fits all plan imposed on the people in regards to their fitness via IPPT system, the Singapore Government should acknowledge the fact that the IPPT system is not producing the results they want. People are exercising because they are fearful of the system and fear-driven policies usually wouldn't end well.
Exercise should be considered within each individuals own physical capacity and means (time and resource). There are people who are not able exercise properly due to underlying health problems and they are usually ignored.
Considering all these issues mentioned above, I think the Government should put IPPT on the back seat or probably freeze it while looking for other alternatives. They should also encourage fitness that have been proven not simply by experience but by hard facts instead of gimmicks which one of them is the fitness IPPT purport to bring. Imagine how would you feel if you were forced by the system to do RT/IPT/IPPT after a hard day's work in the office ?
One of the methods I would like to suggest is to implement real change to the lifestyle of Singapore itself instead of just giving monetary incentives (which is an outdated technique). Change the PE and any other government controlled fitness education system to be more meaningful rather than just play games during PE lessons and that's it. If you want a truely healthy nation that is truely motivated to the common goal of health, then don't make health a rule or regulation because it's counter productive. People need to genuinely experience and enjoy physical exercises instead of being forced into submission.
Proper form should be taught to impart proper knowledge on muscular activation, cardiovascular exercises and other forms of relevant exercises which would help lessen chances of physical injuries and accidents and help one improve physical performance.
The Government should work harder in promoting better nutrition in Government controlled canteens and teach proper nutrition lessons instead of F&N lessons that are regarded of lesser importance or significance as too much attention are given to the major subjects in schools.
If everyone is properly educated and have the interest to exercise by themselves and become health-conscious, there is no need to test the people as they will always be healthy. Tests assumes a one fit all scenario that is not true and not even scientific at all. I think the Government should review the efficiency of it's policies and discard the IPPT system and the notion to force it's citizens into adhering to absurd rules and systems like the IPPT system.
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