10 facts about the Great S’pore Workout you didn’t know and are damn mind-blowing

Last Updated on 2016-05-19 , 1:54 pm

“1, 2, 3, 4…Left, right, left right…poo poo flush flush!” That was how students remembered the exercise moves of The Great Singapore Workout back in the 90s. Here are some other facts about the workout that will blow your mind.

Landed in the Guinness Book of Record
Singapore made it to the Guinness Book of Record for largest mass aerobic session held at one location. 26,107 people turned up at the Padang to do the workout together at its launch.

Mass walks at various sports stadiums were led by ministers
Other than then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong who led the walk-and-jog at Padang, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong led the mass walk at the Yio Chu Kang Stadium. Additionally, Minister for Defence Yeo Ning Hong led at  Queenstown Stadium and Minister for Labour Lee Boon Yang led at the Jurong Stadium.

MOH spent $500,000 on a video-cum-audio-cassette and advertisement package
That’s about $750,000 in today’s currency after inflation.

Workout is safe for any healthy person between 7 to 70 years old
The low-impact aerobic routine is made up of 15 exercises, including five basic exercises and is safe for everyone between that age range.

Autographing of the ACES day cap
Students practiced the workout moves during PE and participated in the mass Great Singapore Workout in school on ACES day. After the workout, students would rush to get their friends to sign the cap before school ended. Often, the most popular student in school would do the most signing.

Inmates of the Changi Prison performed the Great Taiji Workout
The Great Singapore Workout was such a success that different variations started appearing. The most famous one was the Taiji Workout by the inmates of Changi Prison. They probably wanted to introduce some form of zen-ness to prison life?

Companies endorsed the message
The campaign influenced companies to promote the importance of exercise for good health as well. For example, Motorola had their own “The Great Motorola Workout” while Hewlett-Packard began serving food without MSG.

Exercises were also designed for wheelchair-bounded people to join
In 1995, The Great Singapore Workout was improvised for the wheelchair-bounded.

POSB has an updated version for current trends
Named “The Neighbourhood Workout”, new moves include ‘The Selfie-snap’, ‘The MRT Squeeze’ and ‘The Kaya Spread’.

Ranked world’s healthiest country
And finally, Singapore was ranked the world’s healthiest country in 2015. We think The Great Singapore Workout had a big role to play in this.