This huge sporting venue offers many open spaces and exercise facilities to the public. Photo: Singapore Sports Hub
For every combat-fit Singaporean son, our birthdays every year are rained on by the opening of a dreaded window — our IPPT window. The Individual Physical Proficiency Test, or IPPT for short, is designed to assess the fitness of National Servicemen. In recent years, it has been reduced to just three stations, which test how many push-ups one can perform in one minute, how many sit-ups one can do in a minute, and how long one takes to run 2.4 kilometers.
While some Singaporean men might perceive IPPT as a walk (or run) in the park that comes with a cash incentive of several hundred dollars, locals who struggle with passing this maximal fitness test see it as a nightmare that punishes them with numerous ‘Remedial Training’ sessions if they fail IPPT.
Train at a Singaporean landmark
Have you considered training for your IPPT in Singapore Sports Hub? If you haven’t explored this capacious sports venue, you might not be aware of its many free-to-use public facilities that you can leverage to improve your health and fitness.
Every evening, many exercise groups train along the 100PLUS Promenade. Besides this colourful running track, there are many more open spaces all around Singapore Sports Hub, which are surrounded by greenery that are great for all kinds of activities. You can run, do push-ups, sit-ups and other exercises along this multicolored track rain or shine as it’s fully sheltered. There’s also an exercise corner above the Sports Hub Library, which has fitness equipment that can improve your upper body and lower body strength.
Bored of running the 2.4 around the 55,000-seater National Stadium? Bounding up the stairs around the stadium is also a great way of strengthening your legs and widening your strides too, in the weeks leading up to your IPPT.
Waterfront views
Exercising in and around Singapore Sports Hub will reward you with majestic views! You can chart your running route around Singapore Sports Hub and the Singapore River, so that there’s never a dull moment when you prepare your cardiovascular endurance for the gruelling 2.4. You’ll be rewarded with picturesque views of Marina Bay, Gardens by the Bay, Tanjong Rhu, the heritage neighbourhoods of Kallang and Lavender, and more.
Community Facilities
Although performing sprints, endurance runs, push-ups, sit-ups and related exercises are vital to improving your IPPT performance, it’s also important to switch up your training every so often. Enjoy a pickup game at the Sports Hub Hard Courts or Sports Hub Beach Volleyball Courts, which can help break up the monotony of working out and improve your strength and endurance.
Head on over!
Besides these free-to-use facilities, the Singapore Sports Hub has a ton of free-to-play facilities which you can book ahead and many others that can help you improve your overall well-being, including a gym and an Olympic-sized pool at the OCBC Aquatic Centre. You can partake in many other physical activities in the vicinity too, like surf-themed exercise programme SURFSET Fitness, rock climbing facility Climb Central, and fitness and martial arts studio Neue Fit.
