Written by: Ian Tan
When I was 13, I couldn’t do a pull-up and I was in despair.
I had joined the National Cadet Corps as my extra-curricular activity and being able to do pull-ups like a real adult in the army was a big deal. You were often admired if you were a “pull-up king”.
My good friends Derek, Eu Jin and Jerry appeared to have no problems doing pull-ups and I kept struggling to get my chin over the bar just once. I remember I even had a dream where I managed to do ten repetitions and I was so happy, then I woke up.
Over time, with many push-ups and help from my friends who had to keep pushing me above the bar, I earned the ability to do my first pull-up and I was over the moon… err, iron bar.
In ACJC, we joined the dragonboat team and did 45 pull-ups (3 sets of 15) daily during canteen breaks. In the army, pull-ups were easy-peasy and I never had to feel sad over not being able to conquer that iron bar again.
This week, the Singapore Armed Forces announced that it was revamping the Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT) to have just three stations – 2.4km run, sit-ups and push-ups – instead of the current five. The SAF eradicated the standing broad jump, shuttle run and pull-up stations.
The Defence Minister says the change was to make the test easier to pass. The Chief of Army disagrees, saying it was to make the test easier to train for. What we can all agree on is that the Gahmen continues to flunk at basic public relations when it cannot be consistent with the right message.
A lot of people have opinions on the IPPT changes. My personal take is that it’s a real cop-out and a poor case of problem solving by the SAF to solve the high failure rate in the IPPT test.
It has also effectively killed off the pull-up, an exercise which has caused much pain, and perhaps joy, with us SG guys.
Solving the wrong problems
I don’t know the actual numbers (and the media didn’t even know how to focus on this bit), but from observation alone over the past decade, the camps have been swelling with too many people taking Remedial Training (RT) after failing their tests.
Even during my own reservist training, there were years when nearly half my company of guys in their 20s would fail their annual in-camp test.
High failure rate means a lot of money and time being spent by the SAF to conduct RT sessions for tens of thousands of NSmen. Giving out monetary awards for getting a pass grade ($100) didn’t work either in reducing failure rates.
To make things even worse, the SAF made it a 9-mth window instead of 12-mth window for one to take their test each year, causing much more grief among NSmen.
So rather than truly understand why is it that failure rates were going up, the SAF decided to lower its physical fitness standards. No matter what their logic is – 3 stations is obviously easier than 5 stations.
Of course, they will deny this all the way but you can read between the lines of the story misalignment between the minister and COA.
Read the rest of the article here: http://iantan.org/2014/07/the-death-of-the-pull-up-in-singapore/