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:

1. Chin-up / Pull-up: 
    - Upper body strength test. Logical and works.
   
   
2. 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.
   
   
3. 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.
   
   
4. 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 ?
   
   
5. 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.