Hop to it - the new, Greater Singapore Workout awaits

In 1993, more than 26,000 people gathered on the Padang to take part in a mass exercise event that would enter that year's Guinness Book of Records as the largest mass aerobic session held at one location.

Led by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, it signalled the launch of the Great Singapore Workout - an exercise routine which was part of a National Healthy Lifestyle campaign, featuring a theme song urging Singaporeans to "get out of your seat, on to your feet, and get your bodies moving".

Yesterday, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) launched a new, improved version - the Greater Singapore Workout - with the same aims, to mark the 25th anniversary of the original workout's launch.

The new version, designed to suit people of all ages, is made up of 11 exercises. It incorporates familiar elements such as the marching and overhead clap from the original, as well as new moves.

These include the Teh Tarik - which mimics the pulling motion performed by vendors of the popular beverage - as well as the Puddle Hop, where participants have to jump as though crossing a puddle.

More than 50 members of the public performed the updated workout - together with President Halimah Yacob as well as HPB chief executive Zee Yoong Kang and HPB chairman Philip Lee - at the closing event of the board's month-long Healthy Lifestyle Festival SG, held at the Singapore Sports Hub.

Said Mr Lee: "We find a lot of people in Singapore, especially those who are working, tend to be very sedentary."

The new workout will be incorporated into the HPB's free regular public physical activity programmes, he added.

HPB also hopes to get all 89 constituencies to include it as an exercise routine at community events.

Madam Halimah said the message behind it was simple - to exercise regularly to keep healthy.

"Eat healthily, live healthily, exercise regularly, that's my advice," she said.