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Sunrise in the City a hit with S’poreans with offers of free fitness classes

SINGAPORE — Sweat dripping off her body, Ms Tan Li Ling unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks as fast-paced music reverberated throughout the True Fitness studio at HarbourFront Centre. At least twice a week, the 58-year-old travels from her home in West Coast to HarbourFront or Jurong Gateway for early morning Bodycombat or yoga classes.

Tan Li Ling taking part in a Bodycombat class at True Fitness, HarbourFront Centre. The 58-year-old is one of the participants of the Health Promotion Board's Sunrise in the City programme for working adults.  Photo: Koh Mui Fong/TODAY

Tan Li Ling taking part in a Bodycombat class at True Fitness, HarbourFront Centre. The 58-year-old is one of the participants of the Health Promotion Board's Sunrise in the City programme for working adults. Photo: Koh Mui Fong/TODAY

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SINGAPORE — Sweat dripping off her body, Ms Tan Li Ling unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks as fast-paced music reverberated throughout the True Fitness studio at HarbourFront Centre. At least twice a week, the 58-year-old travels from her home in West Coast to HarbourFront or Jurong Gateway for early morning Bodycombat or yoga classes.

It is a routine that Ms Tan has come to enjoy, after she first signed up for the Sunrise in the City (SITC) programme two years ago at the suggestion of her sister-in-law. Started by the Health Promotion Board (HPB) in 2013, SITC has been a hit with Singaporeans, prompting the government agency to expand its offerings to include lunchtime and weekend classes. Fitness studio partners have also reaped benefits from the programme through greater exposure to potential clients.

Ms Tan could not believe it when she heard the sessions were free-of-charge for participants.

“Initially I was quite sceptical because you hear free and then you think ‘trustworthy or not’, ‘sure or not’,” said the former account manager.

“But it’s been really good so far. I used to have a few gym memberships, now I only have one, and I’m already thinking about quitting that one soon, since this programme is free and I can get my regular exercise from it.”

SITC is geared at getting working adults to keep fit and active by working out at gymnasiums conveniently located near their workplaces.

Participants can sign up for over 70 one-hour workout sessions such as aerobics-dance, cardio, and yoga at over 20 locations around the island, including the Central Business District (CBD).

Participating partners of SITC include Fitness First, True Fitness, TMP Fitness, Real Yoga and Platinum Yoga. The programme is funded by HPB, and it spent about S$1 million annually to host some 3,500 sessions for the SITC.

According to HPB, the SITC programme has gained popularity since it first started, growing from 200 participants in 2013 to over 10,000 subscribers with an average attendance of 70 per cent in 2017.

HPB’s partners True Fitness and TMP Fitness told TODAY that they have also seen an increase in the number of people signing on for SITC.

True Group has seen average class attendance rising from 50 per cent in 2013 to about 70 to 80 per cent now, while TMP saw participation numbers for its Zumba and yoga clases tripling from 10 per class at the start to 30 in 2017.

“I really like the variety of classes available, and the gyms are all of a good standard… big, nice chains with a lot of facilities,” said Ms Tan.

“Of course, that the gym sessions are free is very important, who doesn’t want to save money? It has also helped me with my personal schedule and fitness. I used to exercise mostly after work at night, and sometimes after a long day at work, you come home and then get a little bit lazy,” she added.

“But this programme is early in the morning before work, I skip it a lot less because it starts my day and wakes me up a bit before work begins.”

Ms Peng Shihan, who works in sales, is also a fan of the programme after signing on about a year ago. The 29-year-old, who plays for rugby club Bedok Kings, was recommended the SITC by a teammate.

“I exercise quite regularly and this supplements my workout regime. I used to go to a crossfit gym before that closed,” she said.

“I like the programme as it’s free and the available gyms are all very nice. I go to yoga classes often near my home on Saturdays so it’s quite convenient too.”

The partnership with the HPB has also benefited the gyms’ businesses.

“The intention of the collaboration is to expose the SITC participants to a range of services and offerings that a large scale commercial operator like True has to offer,” said a spokesperson from True Group.

“As more people participate in this programme funded by HPB, this will allow us to widen our brand exposure as well. Some participants do sign up as members after their experience with the SITC programme at our centres.”

True’s spokesperson also added that the SITC could look into rewarding participants with “travel incentives and rebates for their commute arrangements” to encourage more people to sign up for the programme.

A spokesperson for TMP Fitness added: “The current marketing tool is through word of mouth. It will be good if there is some marketing budget for us to market the programme so that more people can be aware of it and join the programme.”

As a result of overwhelming response and feedback from participants and gyms on the SITC, HPB has since introduced lunchtime and weekend classes.

In 2013, the government agency also started Sundays@The Park which offers 12 different types of exercise classes for participants, including kickboxing and Zumba.

More than 24,000 participants have attended the programme across 87 parks as at the end of September this year.

Busy professionals can also sign up for the Fitness@Work programme, which offers after-work sessions in Zumba, Modern Dance, Boxercise, and Bodycombat, among others, at six venues around the CBD.

The HPB also intends to scale up popular programmes such as SITC, Sundays@The Park, Fitness@Work and its community physical activity programmes in order to increase its workout sessions from 240 sessions per week in FY2016 to over 300 sessions per week in FY2017. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RAYMOND THAM

Visit www.healthhub.sg/programmes/34/get-active#sunrise for more information on the SITC programme.

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