Making Money With NS FIT – Minimum S$2,000 Over 10 Years

I have been attending IPT and NS FIT to clear my annual IPPT obligations ever since I ORDed. Do you know that you get paid for attending these training sessions? The Army is essentially paying you to train. We can minimally get a total of S$2,000 over 10 years and this can be multiples more (up to S$7,000) if you have a higher rank and/or pass your IPPT. I will share how you can do so in the blog below.

What Is NS FIT?

NS FIT is developed to help our NS Men fulfil our annual IPPT requirements without having to pass IPPT. We just have to attend 10 sessions of NS FIT including one IPPT session to “clear” our IPPT requirement for the year. Previously, it was called IPT where most of the sessions are held in FCCs and some are held in central areas like Promenade @ Marina Bay and Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park. After collaborating with HPB and SportSG, NS FIT now has multiple locations around the island added to increase the convenience for NS Men.

However, even if you can pass your IPPT, you can make use of NS FIT sessions to undergo “paid training” like a professional athlete.

Do take note that the IPPT has to be taken at an FCC or SAFRA. If you choose to take your IPPT at a SAFRA, you will need to pay S$2 per test plus you will not be eligible for monetary rewards if you pass IPPT. As of writing this article, NS FIT and IPPT are suspended at SAFRA due to existing safe management measures.

Slots for NS FIT open the 12 am on the first day of every month. Booking is done on the NS.sg website. You will also be able to mix and match the 9 sessions amongst any of the 4 options (FIT@FCC, FIT@Home, FIT@Park and FIT@HPB Quick HIIT). If you choose to do it at a SAFRA, all 9 sessions have to be done there.

NS FIT Locations

There are multiple options around the island that you can choose to do your NS FIT that is classified into 5 categories. For the most updated list, please visit the official NS.sg page here.

FIT@FCC

The OG locations for NS FIT and IPT are held at FCCs. These sessions are exclusive to NS Men. These FCCs are located in the 4 Army camps located below.

• Maju
• Bedok
• Kranji
• Khatib

The sessions are led by Certis Cisco Fitness Instructors and there are 5 types of training that you can choose depending on your needs.

• IPPT-specific
• Weight Loss
• Metabolic Circuits
• Sports-based
• Aerobic Training

It is less convenient than the other options below as the Army camps might not be near your house or work and you will need to also need to in-pro and out-pro with an attendance slip.

FIT@Park

If you are located near these parks, you can also choose to go for them to fulfil your IPPT obligations. These sessions are exclusive to NS Men.

• Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park
• Marina City Gallery @ Marina Bay
• Punggol Park

The training available at FIT@Park are as follows

• Metabolic Circuits
• Aerobic Training

FIT@HPB Quick HIIT

By working with HPB, multiple locations are available for NS Men to choose from.

1. 509 Bishan Amphitheatre
2. Bedok Stadium
3. Bishan Sport Centre
4. Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park *
5. Bukit Gombak Sport Centre *
6. Clementi Sport Centre *
7. East Coast Park *
8. Hard Court @ 108 Canberra Street *
9. Junction 8 ^
10. Jurong Lake Gardens *
11. Jurong Lak Gardens (ActiveSG)
12. Jurong West SIP *
13. Kampung Admiralty
14. Punggol Park
15. Sengkang Sport Centre *
16. Serangoon Stadium
17. Singapore Sports Hub
18. Sun Plaza Hard Court *
19. Toa Payoh Stadium
20. West Coast Park *
21. Woodlands Sport Centre *
22. Yishun Park *

(*) Venues are susceptible to inclement weather.

(^) Please note that in line with MOH’s advisory on extended Vaccination-Differentiated Safe Management Measures (VDS), this session that is situated within a shopping mall will be catered only to full vaccinated participants.

These sessions are actually held for the public so NS Men will be doing their exercise alongside other participants. From my experience, there are only about 10 slots for NS Men per session so you will need to camp on the first day of each month to make sure you get a slot.

The training done at FIT@HPB Quick HIIT is High-Intensity Interval Training, which is similar to the metabolic circuits done at the various locations.

FIT@Home

This option is the most convenient location where you can do it either at home, workplace or community spaces like parks or void decks.

I don’t recommend doing it at home as there will be jumping and it can be quite noisy for your neighbours.

The training would include metabolic circuits and aerobic exercises comprising calisthenics and bodyweight exercises.

FIT@SAFRA Gym

You can also choose to do your NS FIT at one of the SAFRAs below.

• Punggol
• Tampines
• Toa Payoh
• Jurong
• Mount Faber
• Yishun

The training available is similar to the training at FIT@FCC but there are customised to your personal needs. As such, you will need to do all 9 sessions at SAFRA and you cannot mix with the other NS FIT locations.

On top of that, additional fees will need to be paid if you decide to do your NS FIT at a SAFRA. You will need to pay even if you are a SAFRA EnergyOne Gym member.

A fee will be payable to SAFRA EnergyOne Gym for signing up for FIT@SAFRA Gym:

• S$214 for SAFRA members and SAFRA EnergyOne Gym members
• S$267.50 for the public

Due to these additional costs and inflexibility, I don’t recommend attending FIT@SAFRA.

Due to the existing safe management measures, FIT@SAFRA Gym is currently suspended till further notice.

NS FIT Allowance Per Session

You get paid a half-day allowance for attending each NS FIT and IPPT session. The allowance is based on your rank pay. For reference, I am an LCP and I get about S$22 per session and my friend who is an SSG gets about S$30 per session.

Alternatively, if you attend the NS FIT during work hours, you might be able to claim Make-Up Pay based on your salary instead. For more info regarding Make-Up Pay, you will need to write in to ask as I am not sure about this topic.

Each session will last approximately 60 to 75 minutes. If we include transport and admin time, it might take 1.5 – 2 hours. NS FIT pays about S$10 – S$15 an hour. We can attend NS FIT sessions after work or during weekends. You don’t have to attend multiple NS FIT sessions a week, you can choose to attend 1 – 2 sessions a month. Since staying active is important to have a healthy lifestyle, why not get paid while training with a professional instructor? If you think that your rest time is more important, then maybe this scheme is not for you and you should just clear your IPPT on the first try.

The allowance will be paid to your registered bank account in 8 – 9 days. Remember to update your banking details in NS.sg if there are any changes.

We can only attend 10 NS FIT sessions including the IPPT session.

You will get your allowance for all types of NS FIT sessions. Even if you do the FIT@Home or FIT@HPB Quick HIIT, you will still get your allowance.

NS FIT Maximum Damage

To achieve the max remuneration, you will need to attend the 10 NS FIT sessions (including IPPT) every year for 10 years or until you MR. If you can pass your IPPT, it will further boost your rewards.

IPPT Award	Total Remuneration
Clear 10 NS FIT Sessions	10 x S$20 = S$200 S$2,000 over 10 years
Pass With Incentive	10 x S$20 + S$200 = S$400 S$4,000 over 10 years
Silver	10 x S$20 + S$300 = S$500 S$5,000 over 10 years
Gold	10 x S$20 + S$500 = S$700 S$7,000 over 10 years

As an LCP, my allowance is about S$22 per session. I checked with my friend who is an SSG and his allowance is about S$30 per session.

Most of us will also just attend the 10 NS FIT sessions and stop attending once we clear our IPPT obligations. If you really want to aim for the maximum payments, you can attend another 2 IPPT sessions to get another S$40 (S$20 x 2).

We can also technically attend 3 paid IPPT sessions a year. If you exclude the 1 IPPT session in the 10 NS FIT sessions, we can go for 2 more paid IPPT sessions.

Once we MR, we will no longer need to fulfil any fitness requirements. For my unit, we have an ICT every year so I will MR on time, 10 years after ORD. So if your unit doesn’t have an ICT every year or if you defer, you potentially can get an additional S$200 – S$700 a year until you MR.

Can I Go For NS FIT If I Passed My IPPT?

No. If you have passed your IPPT, you will no longer be able to book further NS FIT sessions. So I recommend passing your IPPT at the end so that you can get the allowance for all the NS FIT sessions.

Is The NS FIT Allowance And IPPT Incentive Taxable?

Yes, the NS payments are taxable but you don’t have to do anything about it. It will be automatically in your Tax Form.

TL, DR

NS FIT is created to help NS Men fulfil their annual fitness requirements. By attending NS FIT, NS Men are paid a half-day rank pay allowance for every session attended. Even if you can pass your IPPT, you can treat NS FIT as paid exercise sessions. We can minimally make S$2,000 over ten years and this can increase depending on your rank and whether you can pass your IPPT.