Ok on the official IPPT website, this is “station 1” so we will cover it first. The stated aim of the sit-up test is to test the “endurance of the lower abdominal muscles”.

The way to perform a passable sit-up during the IPPT test is:

* Lie down with legs bent
* Hands cupping ears
* Elbows touching knees
* Back touches the mat on each repetition
* Hips stay on the ground

I believe the army actually wants to test the function of the torso muscles. Rightly so. The torso muscles are critical. They are often referred to as core muscles.

If we are talking military fitness, the torso or “core” muscles are involved in every combat activity.

When running, and carrying combat loads which can be especially heavy and cumbersome, the core muscles are super important in protecting the spine from damage.

When shooting a rifle these same muscles control breathing to get an accurate shot.

And a strong core has obvious advantages in close combat and hand to hand situations.

The sit-up seems to be a good way to test this core strength. But remember it is just a test. It is not the way we are going to train.

Here is why…

Firstly, sit-ups target the hip flexor muscles (which lift your knee upward to your chest) much more than the abdominal musculature which they are supposed to test. The hip flexor is a set of muscles that is already short and tight in most people so excessive training of it (making it even shorter and tighter) is not the best idea.

Secondly, sit-ups place high compressive loads on the spine which actually exceed the guidelines given by most back health specialists and organizations for worker back safety.

Thirdly the sit-up is not the way to train the main function of the core muscles. That main function is stability of the lower back. If the main function of the core is stability, we should train it as such instead of doing exercises such as sit-ups which are making the lower back move around a lot leading to back problems.

Here we have a dilemma. We want to do well in the sit-up test, meanwhile, sit-ups aren’t very good for us! Uh oh.

Do not fear, we can do well in the test and at the same minimizing injury risks. Here is the general idea how…

For most of the training period (which should be all year round!) we train the core in the way it was mean to be trained. Which is Stability, Stability and even more Stability. This makes our torso super strong and injury proof.

Then, closer to the test (about 4 weeks away) we train the sit-up specifically for the test situation. Because we are already stable and strong, we can get away with sit-up training with no injuries. Yay!

NOTE: we are not going to do many crunch like movements either. Crunches make the rectus abdominus (the 6-pack) shorter and that leads us into a slouching posture because the rectus brings our ribcage toward our hips. Too many people already are slouching and we don’t want to make it worse.

The way to train sit ups is to do some stability work like front and side bridges/planks/hovers for a few weeks to make sure the core muscles fire correctly.

Yes. Believe it or not, this is abdominal training!

After that, the core is best trained with heavy lifting! Thats right, things like squats, deadlifts and strongman training like farmers walks and super yoke, are excellent core exercises.

4 weeks from the test, just do 1 min of situps 2x per week and you will be good to go!

I know this segment sounds too simple compared to the SBJ/Shuttle run segments but it truly is:)

There is a better way...

How do I train if I can’ even do 1 chinup?!

Firstly don’t be a fatty! In my gym, any guy who can’t see some of his abs (and I don’t mean 1 ab) is fat. And should get leaner to improve performance. That will be the first thing that helps you improve. Next, follow the advice below…

Since you can’t do a chinup you need another goal. Here it is… you need to be able to lower yourself from the top position of a chinup, under control, for 30 seconds, with a 10kg backpack hanging on you. I have found that if a person can do this, he or she is able to do their first chinup.

So when you train, you jump, climb or do whatever it takes to get your chin above the bar, then you lower yourself S—L—-O—-W—L—-Y. And see how long you can last. As you improve, increase that all the way to 30 sec. Keep moving and don’t stop. at 15 sec your arms should be about parallel to the ground. At 30 sec you should have your arms fully extended.

Once you can do 30 sec, start adding additional weight and try again. As you go from session to session, up the weight till its about 10kg. By that time you will be able to do 1 chin up.

And yes… you are welcome.

Which grip to use?

In training use multiple grips but in the test use the one that suits you most. Most fit people do better with a palms away grip, wider than shoulder width because this allows for maximal use of the back muscles and shortest distance to move the body. However beginners (under 8 reps) usually do better with a shoulder width palms towards you underhand grip because their arms tend to be stronger than their back.

What if I get stuck at the bottom but can easily finish the chinup once I get half way up?

The bottom of the chinup is more dependent on your arms. This means that your arms are the weak link. More bicep curls and grip training is in order.

What if I can start the chinup but cannot finish at the top?

Your upper back muscles are weak. More rowing exercises will help you.

General Training Philosophy

Train the chin-up Often, with multiple variations, weights and rep ranges, but do not train to failure and let your body get “good” at the movement and efficient at it (because you train so often). This is also known as “greasing the groove” in this case it’s not a physical groove but rather a movement pattern in our nervous system.

There are 2 factors at work here. First we want to train as often as possible so the groove gets greased. But if we keep doing the same thing over and over we get over trained, nervous system fatigue, injured, muscle imbalances, and stagnate quickly.

The key is not to go out and do all other kinds of crazy exercises, rather the important thing to do is to do things “the same, but different”. That means instead of doing chin-ups, we will do pull-ups sometimes, which are the same movement but with a slightly different emphasis.

Sometimes we will do chin-ups with partner assistance, sometimes with added weights, sometimes we pull at different angles. All these are the “same” but “different”. It leads to progress with far smaller chance of stagnation or injury. This is the best of both worlds.

Personally I use a similar method through my own year round training program. I can do a 1 handed chin-up and a 2 handed chin-up with an additional 75kg hanging from my body.

This method also works for my clients who may be new to strength training. I had one client who was overweight at 90kg, and has never done a chin-up since his BMT days 8 years ago. But, in just 8 weeks, he can do 4. Training less than 3 hours per week TOTAL, but doing several sets of chin-ups several times per week (perhaps 10% of his training time spent on chin-ups).

Let’s talk about training more in detail.

You will need to do some specific training for weak body parts because they can hold you back from poor performance. You might have the strongest arm and back muscles in the world but weak hands and forearms can keep you from a good performance.

For your hands and forearms, I strongly recommend grippers and forearm rollers. Since you need a lot of static strength in them to “crush” the bar and hang on, train them the correct way. I would get a challenging gripper and do a few sets of 30-45 seconds each time after your chin-up workouts. I would also make my own roller and do a 3-4 sets at home while watching TV. In addition we will use a towel to build up chin-up grip strength. Hook a towel around the chinup bar and grip that instead of the bar to perform your chinups.

Another common area of weakness is the upper back. To do chin-ups and their variations correctly. The main problem many people have is the inability to get their shoulder blades pinched together and down. You will know if this is a weakness for you when you find that you can start a chinup but can’t finish it. We are weak here because many people have slouching and hunched over posture where your upper back is in a constant state of tension. This makes the muscles weak and excessively long. (Despite what the yoga people say, getting your muscles to be “longer” is not always a good thing!). Now when you want them to contract forcefully to get your chin over the bar, oops, they are so weak and long that it becomes impossible.

In Training

When training, be super strict. Arms fully extended. No swinging. Chin as far over the bar as possible. Lower yourself slowly. Pause at the bottom.

Remember that this is training, and you should make it as hard as possible. There are people who encourage kipping i.e. looking like you are having a seizure or being electrocuted on the bar. This may boost your chin up numbers in training, but it does not make you stronger as fast as strict repetitions. In addition, they don’t count in the test!

During the test

Because you have been so strict during training, a bit of swing during the test will make each chinup feel really easy. During the test, do not lower too slowly and do not wait at the bottom. This allows your body to rebound at the bottom and get the next rep more easily. Stop when your rep is counted and your chin has just cleared the bar. These distance and energy saving tips are worth a few reps in themselves.

The IPPT website says that the chin-up test is a test of “muscular strength and endurance of the upper limbs”. True. But it’s also more than that as you will find out.

The chin-up actually tests the entire upper body. (And even the lower body because it has to be kept stable for maximum performance).

Ok, some definitions before we start. We are going to call palms facing towards us grip chin-ups and palms facing away from us, pull-ups. If you have one of those chin-up bars with palms facing toward each other, that’s called a neutral grip.

A chin-up bar is essential for chin-up training. I know this sounds obvious, but like other IPPT stations, the chin-up is not only an exercise, it is also a test. And we do need to train in a manner specific to the test itself, especially as we get closer to the test date.

The chin-up (and all its grip variations) is of course an awesome exercise in itself. It trains just about every muscle in the upper body. Conversely, all the muscles in the upper body need to be strong in order to do well at chin-ups.

Here is the list of upper body strengths needed to perform chin-ups well. Just like the proverbial chain, any weakness in these muscles will impede your performance of the chin-up.

Starting from the hands…

Hands: Static crushing grip strength (there are several types of hand grip strength) and strength endurance.

Forearms: Static (no movement) and Dynamic (with movement) strength and strength endurance.

Upper Arms (Primarily the bicepss and the brachialis, the arm flexing muscles but also the brachio-radialis and pronator teres): Dynamic strength and strength endurance.

Back Muscles (Latissimus, Trapezius, Rhomboids): Dynamic Strength and strength endurance, and for the rhomboids and traps, static strength and strength endurance as well.

Core Muscles: Static strength endurance

That’s just about all the muscles in the upper body save the pectorals and the shoulders (which actually do have a stabilizing effect as well).

Oh yeah, in case it’s not obvious, being overweight will be a big disadvantage when it comes to performing chin-ups so get your nutrition in check if you want to progress.

Running Posture

Remember that this is not a 3000m, 800m, 400m, 100m, or even 60m race. This is only 10m between turning points. Because of this, we never need to stand upright. We are in a crouch run all the way thru the race.

At first this might seem unnatural. But you just need to imagine that you are in a room with a really low ceiling about waist high. So stay LOW all the way.

The reason for this is the turns. The turns require you to keep a low position to touch the lines. We can save 0.3-0.5 seconds per turn by already being in that low position. We don’t need to waste that time standing, crouching, and then standing again.

So stay LOW and save time! You look at the ground the ENTIRE TIME during the 10m Shuttle Run.

Turning

The turns are where good times become great. The key to turning correctly is called the “turn position”. This position requires strength, coordination, flexibility and practice. But it is the best way to save time on the turns.

One reason that you save time is that you will never overrun the line. That makes each 10m leg of the shuttle run only 9m because your body never goes that last meter. Only one of your legs and one of your hands do. Cutting off 1 meter per turn is 3m in total over a 40m race! That’s 8% less to run.

Another reason you save time is that you can accelerate very well out of the “turn-position”. You are already halfway “out” of the turn even as you touch the line. More time saved.

The thing that needs practice is the transition between the crouched running posture and the turn position. Remember to stay low and reach your hand DOWN toward the line. As seen in the picture below.

You should feel like a plane coming in for landing, at a gentle decent. Rather than a helicopter landing vertically on the line.

I see many people reach up with their arm before swinging the arm down and touching the line. That is more time wasted and it also prevents you from staying low.

Below is the “turn position”. You run only as far as you need to to touch the line. And you keep your weight and center of gravity on the BACK FOOT, in the picture below that’s my right leg. My weight NEVER passes this point. My left leg and hand just barely reach the line

The turn position takes practice! Spend some time in slow motion getting into this position till it becomes second nature. No it’s not easy, and yes you need to be strong to do it right. But that’s where the strength training in the shuttle run programs comes in.

Once again, at all times, you look downward.

Exiting from the turn is the next component. Once again. Airplane not helicopter. You ascend from the turn position the same way you descended into it. Gently and horizontally. No “popping up”. Just like the starting stance, drive forward not upward and remember to stay low again.

I pivot on the back leg (my right leg in the pictures) and drive forward keeping low as usual. My weight is always on the back leg so I’m ready to turn as soon as i touch the line. No time is wasted shifting my weight from foot to foot.

Now its just practice.

Race specific warm-up

The shuttle run requires a special warm-up because the crouch run position as well as the turn position are special movements that need specific warm-up. Here is how you warm-up.

Start in the starting stance and accelerate out at 80% speed. Go 5 steps and turn, then go back 3 steps, and turn, then 3 steps and turn and once more 3 steps and turn. All this is done at about 80% of your best speed. Do this twice and you should be ready for the real test without becoming too tired.

Now we move on to the shuttle run technique. The shuttle run is an extremely technical test. Every component has a good technique that can cut 0.3 to 0.5 seconds off your final time. And since you need to do some components 3 or 4 times, that’s 2 or more seconds off your total time. Just like magic. Just do each component correctly.

Stance

The stance affects how you take your first step. In such a short race, that first step is very important. The important thing about the stance is getting your body in a position to go forward rather than anywhere else.

There are many wrong stances that I have seen. The rules state that your entire body must be behind the line, and that that you respond to the Instructor’s command “go” or your press a plate that starts your timing.

Feet slightly narrower than shoulder width, front foot about 1/2 foot length behind the start line, rear foot about 1/2 foot length behind front foot (adjust this according to your own body type and length, but remain balanced)

Get down onto your knees and without moving your feet.

From this position, tuck your entire body behind the line as of you are loading yourself into a cannon. Head down, body tight and coiled backward (not downward). We want to drive forward not upward.

This is the final stance, you should feel like you are about to fall forward. You can see that your stance is correct by observing the position of your lower back just above the belt line. Your lower back is almost parallel to the ground.

NOTE: About 80% of your weight is on your feet not your hands. After all you are going to run with your legs right!

This means that when I fire my leg muscles I will propel myself forward. If the lower back is at any other angle, I will go upward instead. One hand is on the floor and one is bent and at your hip.

First Step

The first step feels like a jump. You should feel like you are falling forward. You need to get used to this feeling because it means you are coming out of your stance at the correct angle. Remember you are not a rocket taking off vertically. You are a racecar accelerating forward, out of the starting position.

• Explode out of the stance with torso at a 30 degree angle to the ground or less (this means that you will go forward not up)
• Throw arm forward
• Positive shin angle (take a first step about 1m ahead of your front foot)
• Big stride (small choppy steps go nowhere)
• Head goes forward not up (keep looking DOWN)

Ok according to MINDEF’s IPPT website, the shuttle run is a test of “General speed, agility and coordination”. Yup it is. It tests very similar attributes to the broad jump. But there is the addition of the turning and acceleration/deceleration which requires additional skill. But again, once the physical attributes are in place, skills become fairly easy to learn. (Assuming you were not locked up as a child).

If you are already doing lots of leg training for the broad jump. There will be a large carry-over of the strength that you have gained from broad jump training into your shuttle run performance.

However, every move of the shuttle run is different from the broad jump in one very significant way. It is performed on one leg.

From the starting stance, to the turn to each stride that you run, they are performed with one leg dominating the movement.

Because of that, single leg exercises become important for the shuttle run.

The next main item to take care of is technique. Here are the mistakes I have observed participants make when performing the shuttle run.

No Routine

The shuttle run is a test. It is the same every time. (All this sounds familiar?) Just like the broad jump, you must have a routine.
For example, do you know…

• Which leg you will put forward in your starting stance?
• How far apart your feet will be in the starting stance?
• Where will your arms be when you start?
• Where you should look when you start?
• How many steps to the first turn?
• Which leg will be in front when you turn?
• And more!

No Specific Warm Up

• Yes, we do a general warm up before the tests start, but the Shuttle run has special turning and acceleration components that need specific warm-up.

Poor Stance

• The stance determines your first step and that is the key to good performance. Even in a 100m race, the first step is vital. Imagine how important it is in a race as short as a 10m shuttle run.

Poor Acceleration Posture

• Running “up”, not “out”. The common mistake is that the first move for many people is to stand up. This is not a good idea because the end point that we want to reach is in front, not above.

Incorrect running position

• This is not a 100m or 200m sprint. Once a track and field sprinter gets out of his starting blocks, he starts to rise to a vertical sprint position (the best way to run fast) by about 30-40m. But this is a 10m race, there is no need for the vertical sprint position because we NEVER reach top speed in this race.
• All our time is spent accelerating and decelerating. For this, a low running position is best.
• Oh yeah, way too many people run in a circle i.e. not a straight line. It goes without saying that a straight line is the fastest way

Incorrect turning

• Taking a big hop does not allow you to keep your feet on the ground to decelerate correctly
• Taking too many small steps wastes a lot of time

Once you know these things, which will be taught in this section on the shuttle run, do you believe your time will improve? Of course it will.

Firstly because your technique will improve, and secondly because you will be mentally sure of a consistent performance that you can do any time.

Can you imagine an Olympic sprinter not being sure which leg should be in front in the starting blocks? Of course he is sure. So you should be too.

After coaching hundreds of clients in my Singapore personal training gym to excel in the standing broad jump (SBJ), here are 11 reasons that cause Singapore men and women to fail the standing broad jump.

Poor Technique

No Routine

• The SBJ is a test. It is the same every time. Just like a basketball player shooting a free throw. All the best free throw shooters have a routine that they follow that makes each and every shot the same. This gives them consistently good results.
• The same is true of the SBJ. When you step up to the line, you need to have a system of knowing what you will do, where you will look, how you will ready yourself and how you will jump and land.

Too much swinging/rocking

• Swinging is a bad idea. You will see many people swing their arms back and forth in and out perhaps 5-8 times before jumping. The jump itself is a single powerful event and we want to use a single, powerful swing to generate force with the arms. In fact in a maximal effort jump, the arms account for up to 15% of the final result! So the way to do this is one hard, forceful swing.

No “throw-down” and slow change of direction

• To get a maximal jump, we want to use what is known as the “stretch shortening cycle” or SSC. This is the springy property of your body. Just as in any other spring, we get the greatest rebound effect when we quickly compress the spring, then let it bounce up. That is what we do in our SBJ technique. We THROW ourselves down quickly and forcefully, and the immediately change direction and explode off the mat. It takes great strength to change direction from down to up quickly, and that is one area which we need to train both from a technique standpoint, as well as from a strength standpoint.

Poor jump angle

• Most people simply jump at too low an angle.

Poor use of hips (using thighs too much)

• Most people start their jump with their knees “forward” using their thigh muscles. In fact we need to use the more powerful muscles of the hips and butt, rather than the thighs to get maximal power and distance. To do that we need to change our jumping posture from “knees forward” to “buttocks backward”.

Poor arm swing

• As mentioned earlier the arms account for a significant portion of the jump power and distance. We need to swing our arms up hard and high. As high as elbows touching our ears. That is far higher than most people swing their arms. To get this position consistently, we need to have good posture in our upper backs and our shoulders. (Yup! Posture again!)

Incomplete hip, knee and ankle extension

• Some people stop short of full “triple extension”. That means the ankles, knees and hips extend in a coordinated fashion to blast the body upward and forward. This is a inter-muscle timing issue and can be trained.

Poor landings leading to injury

• Some of the landings I have witnessed at IPPT tests make me cringe! Legs and arms flailing all over… Remember that you must be able to land safely. This is a function of strength also because you need eccentric or “lowering” strength to land safely just like you need “concentric” or lifting strength to jump well.

Insufficient physical attributes

Overweight

• This is a no brainer. Like I mentioned in the section on overall physical attributes, being overweight really hurts. In the SBJ even more so than in other events. When I say overweight I mean fat. Anything more than 10% body fat is going to hinder your jumping. If you are anywhere higher than 10% at the moment, I can confidently say that losing fat (while keeping the same muscle mass) will improve your jumping.

Insufficient power in legs

• You are too weak to jump far. Being stronger almost guarantees a better jump. In fact, strength is the attribute that we work on most during our IPPT training or personal training sessions.

Insufficient arm and shoulder power

• Remember that arm power is critical in jump distance. It is worth about 15% of the jump distance. We need to train the arm swing and shoulder strength as if it is a critical component of the SBJ. (Which it is)

There we go! 11 reasons why people in Singapore fail NAPFA or IPPT in the standing broad jump (SBJ).

Here is another video of me jumping over a 160cm hurdle with room to spare! I’m not naturally “gifted” at jumping but by eliminating the mistakes shown above, as well as with consistent and correct training. Even a “regular” guy like me can do it.

Hydration

Fatigue can come in 5 forms.

Hydration is one of the 5 possible causes for performance ending fatigue. I.e. you can’t physically go on with your activity.

• You can fail from lack of energy supplies – that is handled by proper nutrition for your body type and genetics
• You can fail from a lack of nervous system resources – this is handled by eating the right kinds of nutrients (especially fats) and the resting and timing your training correctly
• You can fail from an over-increase of body temperature – this is Singapore, get used to it!
• You can fail from a lack of muscular endurance – this is easily improved within a few weeks
• You can fail from lack of hydration – this is totally within your control!

Of all these, hydration is the easiest to fix! So it would be a waste not to take care of it since all it takes is water.

How much and how often?

We all know that you should drink till your urine is clear. That’s a great starting point. In addition, any time you feel thirsty, then its too late, your performance is already suffering. I’d like to take it a step further.

Drink so much that you are constantly going to the bathroom till 2 hours before the test starts. I don’t think there is exact research to substantiate this, but, in my experience with hundreds of athletes and hundreds of competitions, hydrating to this point has never hurt and it has made cramping a very very rare occurrence.

No special drinks, just water. Once you hit 2 hours before the test starts, just sip occasionally. This prevents frequent toilet trips at the test venue.

Research shows that even a 1-2% of bodyweight water loss (600g for a 60kg man) can lead to a 10% decrease in strength and power output. So please drink!

Mental Preparation

When you prepare for the IPPT,  not only are you spending weeks or months on physical preparation, you are also conditioning yourself for success. Every time you lift more weight, perfect your starting stance, improve your jump distance, you are conditioning yourself for success.

Not only physically, but also mentally. This conditioning helps you with positive thoughts during the test day. I am a big fan of positive thinking, but positive thinking only works when its built on a foundation of positive actions, and strong preparation beforehand.

If we skip 50% of our training sessions to watch the latest episode of CSI or Desperate Housewives or whatever Korean drama our wife is watching, then all the positive thinking in the world won’t work because our preparation stinks!

By the time test day comes, you should know exactly what you are going to eat, how long before the test you will stop eating and drinking, what your starting stance looks like, how many steps your are going to take in the shuttle run before turning. Stuff like that. That kind of preparation makes positive thinking effective.