The real problem with IPPT? Sit-ups

Since the new IPPT format was unveiled more than a week ago, there have been a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of pulling out the chin-ups station and pushing in the push-ups station.

Many seem okay with the jettisoning of the shuttle run and broad jump stations, but also feel that if you really want more NSmen to pass, then it's the 2.4km run that has to run away.



But no one seems to have a problem with the sit-ups station which is the other station to survive the IPPT revamp.

Well, I do.

And it's not because I can't do sit-ups. It was the only IPPT station where I would always get the maximum points.

Mindef has stated that sit-ups are "a test of abdominal strength and endurance". The problem is that sit-ups have long fell out of favour as an exercise to build abdominal strength.

In fact, sit-ups are now considered bad for you.

According to a recent article on the Harvard Medical School website:

One reason is that sit-ups are hard on your back — by pushing your curved spine against the floor and by working your hip flexors, the muscles that run from the thighs to the lumbar vertebrae in the lower back. When hip flexors are too strong or too tight, they tug on the lower spine which can be a source of lower back discomfort.

So what should you do if you want abs? No, not even crunches.

The in thing now seems to be the plank.



According to the same article:

Planks recruit a better balance of muscles on the front, sides, and back of the body during exercise than sit-ups, which target just a few muscles. Remember, your core goes far beyond your abdominal muscles.

And you know what else is also good for building abdominal muscles?

Push-ups.

So by adding the push-ups station to the IPPT, Mindef actually made the sit-ups station redundant.

Mindef has also stated that the new IPPT format is modelled after the US Army Physical Fitness Test that consists of push-ups, sit-ups and a 2-mile run, which is about 3.2km. (That may explain the 3.2km run story last year.)

The problem is that the US test was introduced back in 1980.



So to base our new IPPT format on the US test is like building a new computer in 2014 based on the Apple II. Floppy disk drives, anyone?

Another problem is that fitness trends can be as fickle as fashion trends.

One day, baggy jeans are in; the next day, they're out. Today, push-up are the rage; tomorrow, they're bad for your wrists. (That's why I do only knuckle push-ups.)

It took almost 30 years for Mindef to update the IPPT. I'm not sure they got it right.

But, yes, I'll miss my old frenemy, the chin-up.



EARLIER: How to help more NSmen pass IPPT: Learn from CPF

Damned if you ban, damned if you don't

My daughter is very concerned about this.

After the Media Develoment Authority (MDA) banned the gay wedding issue of Archie (which became international news), someone at The Independent website pointed out that there is a gay wedding issue of X-Men which is not banned in Singapore.

According to the website:

The availability of Astonishing X-Men #51 – but not Archie: The Married Life V3 – raises questions over MDA’s review process.

I almost felt sorry for MDA. You ban, people complain. You don't ban, people also complain.



My daughter, who reads the X-Men comics, had earlier also noticed the inconsistency and asked me why one gay wedding comic book was allowed and not another.

I said shhhhhh! She should just be grateful MDA let the X-Men comic through and not make a big fuss about it. Or MDA will ban it.

Unfortunately, unlike my daughter, The Independent didn't come to me first.

When I read The Independent article, I thought the X-Men were going to become the Axed Men. Get it?

But suprisingly, aftr the article came out, MDA didn't ban the X-Men #51. Instead, MDA actually tried to explain why it didn't ban the issue.

Today reported:

An MDA spokesman said: “The issue featured characters who objected to the wedding and this offered a balanced treatment on the issue of gay marriage.”

The spokesman added that there was no breach of content guidelines, “which allow for the balanced depictions of same-sex relationships if they do not encourage or promote alternative lifestyles”.

The statutory board had assessed the X-Men comic in 2012 after receiving public feedback and queries from its importer.

“The MDA takes a holistic view in assessing content and considers all factors, including the context, presentation and language. While themes may seem similar on the surface, depictions and context often vary across different works,” the spokesman said in response to queries from this newspaper.

While some are relieved the X-Men aren't axed, others aren't buying MDA's explanation. As far as they are concerned, MDA is just inconsistent and incompetent.



But now my daughter is upset about another inconsistency.

She complained that if the X-Men gay wedding issue isn't banned, then why can't she find the book in the public library?

The obvious answer is that, as the gay penguins book saga demonstrated, the National Library Board (NLB) may decide not to stock certain titles even though they're not banned by MDA.

I guess NLB doesn't take "a holistic view in assessing content and considers all factors, including the context, presentation and language".

But that is little consolation for my daughter who has borrowed from the library and read the X-Men issues before and after the mutant gay wedding issue, and now there's a gap in the storyline for her.

Of course, I could offer to buy her the missing issue from the bookstore, but then I'm too much of a cheapskate. Kinokuniya is selling the book for about $24.

These gay weddings can get pretty expensive.

I should just be grateful she doesn't read Archie.

EARLIER: Germany had Nazis, we have... NLB?

How to help more NSmen pass IPPT: Learn from CPF

Dear Chief of Army,

Wassup!

I mean, good morning, sir!

Or good afternoon, sir!

I don’t know what time you’re reading this, sir!

You don’t know me. I “retired” from national service eight years ago after turning 40.

I just want to write you about the new Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT) format you unveiled last week.

As you may know, the response has been mixed. I, too, am not sure how I feel about it.

On the one hand, as a former NSman, I feel cheated. Why didn’t you all introduce this “simpler” IPPT format earlier?

Like maybe 30 years ago, before I enlisted.

You know how much I suffered as a recruit because of the chin-ups?

I can still remember the rusty chin-up bar outside our barrack on Pulau Tekong.



And when I say “rusty”, I don’t mean like a nice even coat of rust.

I’m talking about gnarly barnacle-like growths of rust that cut into the palms of your hands as you gripped the bar to pull yourself up.

So the number of chin-ups you could do was determined not so much by your upper body strength but by how long you can endure the pain caused by the hand-eating rust barnacles.

And now you’re dropping chin-ups from the IPPT, along with the broad jump and the shuttle run.

Is that fair? Shouldn’t the younger generation suffer like we did?

On the other hand, as a father of a teenage boy who will be enlisting in a couple of years, I’m relieved he won’t have to suffer like I did.

And I want to thank you for that.

You’ve said that the main aim for the change in the IPPT was “to have a simpler format” that NSmen “can train for”.

What I take that to mean is that you’re sick of so many NSmen failing their IPPT.

(And NSmen are also sick of having to go for remedial training after failing their IPPT.)

The hope is that the new format will reduce the number. I have a suggestion to help reduce the number even further.



One problem many NSmen have with the IPPT is that the older they get, the harder it is to pass.

You have compensated for this by lowering the passing criteria for older NSmen.

But that may not be enough.

My suggestion is to make the IPPT like the Central Provident Fund.

No, I don’t mean organise a forum on the IPPT where the finance minister is interrogated by a blogger who is being sued for defamation by the prime minister.

And I also don’t mean make the IPPT scoring system so complex and difficult to understand like the CPF because you’ve already done that.

Kidding! The new IPPT scoring system is much easier to figure out than the CPF – but that’s what I want to change.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but in the new system, to pass the IPPT, you need a total of at least 51 points with at least one point from each of the three IPPT stations.

The maximum points you can get is 50 points from the 2.4km run and 25 points each from push-ups and sit-ups, making it a total of 100 points.



When you’re young, you’re likely to exceed 51 points easily.

But as you grow older, the points get harder to come by.

So my idea is that when you’re in your 20s, you can set aside a percentage of your excess IPPT points in what I shall call the Central Points Fund.

The purpose is to save these points to help you pass your IPPT in your old age.

And when I say old age, I mean after you hit 30.

So when you’re 30 years old, you can withdraw from the Central Points Fund – but only if you have reached the Minimum Sum to be set by a secret IPPT committee.

This will incentivise you to earn more IPPT points when you are in your 20s to ensure that you will reach the Minimum Sum (which will be raised every few years to keep up with inflation).

Of course, you don’t have to withdraw from your Central Points Fund after hitting 30 if you don’t need to.

In fact, you’re encouraged to leave your IPPT points in the Central Points Fund so that they can earn interest, which is pegged to the prevailing market rate.

This will also prevent you from squandering your points on gambling and a second family in Batam.

But rest assured that these are your IPPT points. The Government can’t take them away and invest them in another army in another country.

And when you die, you can even leave the points to your sons to help them pass their IPPT during their NS. (If you have only daughters, too bad. Maybe they’ll sign on.)

The only thing you can’t do with your IPPT points is use them to pay for a flat or pay medical bills. Okay, two things.

But what is important is that with this Central Points Fund scheme, I believe we can further reduce the number of NSmen failing their IPPT, especially the older ones.

Thank you, sir, for considering this humble suggestion I have offered.

It’s the least I can do after you’ve saved my son from the hand-eating chin-up bar.

Yours sincerely,
S M Ong

- Published in The New Paper, 27 July 2014

EARLIER: 2.4 to become 3.2? I couldn’t even run 1.5km