ACES Day: The epic mass workout from childhood that probably shaped Singapore’s fitness craze

You might not be a CrossFit champ or Zumba zealot. But if you’re remotely acquainted with Singapore’s fitness communities, you know they can feel a little cult-ish.
Admittedly, that may be key to its allure, though perhaps it’s no surprise, considering a probable origin of my millennial generation’s curious penchant for overenthusiastic group exercise: ACES Day.  
ACES stands for All Children Exercising Simultaneously – an amusingly dystopian, albeit accurate, definition if ever there was one.
ACES Day was introduced in schools to get students to participate in The Great Singapore Workout, which was officially launched on Oct 3, 1993. 
The first ACES Day happened on Sep 30 and Oct 1 that year – with primary school students performing the workout on the first day, followed by secondary school and junior college students on the following day – in the lead up to The Great Singapore Workout’s official launch. 
The roughly 15-minute workout was a specially-designed aerobic programme for the nation, comprising 15 exercises that anyone aged seven to 70 could join in safely. 
While it was described as “low impact”, the routine would “get the heart pumping”, according to a 1993 Straits Times article.
The original workout comprised five core steps. There was the basic march; the side-step with scissor and arm bends; the toe-tap and stretch; the arm and heel press; and the punch and kick movement.
These were spread out across five sections: Warm up, upper body movement, lower body movement, total body exercises and cool down.
It seemed physical education (PE) teachers only added what would be remembered as the most memorable part of the ACES Day workout via verbal instruction: The “flush, flush, poooooot” chant.
No doubt, the awkward reference to bowel movements was meant to help students remember the consecutive sequence of bicep pull and side lunge movements instead.
And remember we did. I distinctly recall having to practise the communist-style cardio choreography in my primary school’s assembly grounds several weeks before ACES Day for no apparent purpose. Except, perhaps, to hone our hand-eye coordination and sense of rhythm. 
But seeing as how many movements required the synchronisation of opposite-side limbs, rehearsals were necessary, if only to put an end to any illusions of a possible dance career. 
But we’ve got a particular three-year-old to thank for The Great Singapore Workout video. 
The S$500,000 video-cum-audio cassette and advertisement package was produced by advertising agency Adcom, whose creative director David Miller tested the raw version of the catchy theme song on his three-year-old daughter. Once she started “jumping around”, he knew it would be a success, he said in a 1993 Straits Times article on the making of the workout. 
So if nothing else, the lesson here is that for all the money spent on developing award-winning campaigns, it appears true virality – and longevity – can be measured by whether a child takes an immediate liking.
In short, it still exists. A quick Google search shows that schools still celebrate ACES Day, typically around Aug 31 to coincide with Teachers’ Day celebrations. 
The way I see it, the occasion’s original flavour eventually inspired the mass dance activity in junior college and university freshman orientation camps. Maybe even a Mambo night or two. 
Since 1993, however, The Great Singapore Workout has seen several actual iterations. 
For instance, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) created the New Great Singapore Workout in 2009. This version had strength training and aerobic dance moves that were “more relevant to Singapore’s diverse culture”, according to a 2012 press release. 
Then in 2015, local bank POSB came up with The Neighbourhood Workout comprising six moves. These were the Selfie Snap, Prata Flip, Kaya Spread, Shopping Bag Drag, MRT Squeeze, and Bus Balance.
And in 2018, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original workout, HPB launched The Greater Singapore Workout. It had 11 exercises, although it kept familiar moves from the 1993 version. 
Similar to POSB’s variation, this “Greater” workout also included uniquely Singaporean moves. The moves were named Mozzie Clap, Puddle Hop, Kiasu Chope and Teh Tarik. 
Yet none of these versions have quite achieved the same immediate effect that the 1993 jingle had on the three-year-old daughter of The Great Singapore Workout’s creator.
Without the veneer of nostalgia, the various revised workouts fall flat.
Perhaps it was the fashion. The bright yellow T-shirt, high-waisted pants, tight cap, paired with high socks and bulky uncle-style sports shoes, made a pretty rad uniform in an era when class T-shirts were all the rage. 
Or maybe it was the even-toned narrator in the video, whose calm lilt hypnotised me into an obedient stupor, arms raised and ready for the rhythm. I often felt like one of the aunties around my neighbourhood who’d blast similar-sounding exercise tapes during their morning aerobics at HDB void decks.
But it’s more likely that ACES Day got lodged in the recesses of an entire generation’s collective childhood memory because we didn’t have social media’s fleeting algorithm to shove yet another newfangled fad at us every other day. We could fully appreciate and experience trends, taking our time to decide whether to incorporate them into our culture longterm.
ACES Day in its OG form probably wouldn’t be as classic or have as lasting an impact if it were launched today.
It’d be subject to the cynicism that underlies much of online humour, and it’d be considered cringe. Or perhaps the workout would still go viral, albeit in irony rather than earnestness. The zeitgeist has shifted.
At least I will always have an effective code phrase to identify fellow millennials around my age who grew up in Singapore.
Flush, flush, poooooot.