The Planking Challenge

Once in a while, it is good to do something different and fun that lifts the spirit. So here I am at the launch of Mobile Legend: Bang Bang (an online game) at City Square Mall in Singapore on the 19th May 2019. They wanted the presence of local legendary characters, and so interestingly, they found me. No, rather they found Warrant Officer (WO) Lee Teck Hong, a character in Hentak Kaki, that is arguably a legendary character to those who have served in the Singapore Army. I think they were looking for local characters that could draw crowds that are different from their usual target groups.

The Encik is back!!! LOL

I was to appear, smile and wave, and then throw a Planking Challenge to members of the audience,. The one that planked longest with me will walk away with game character figurine.

#MLBB #515UNITE

We were not short of participants. We asked for 5 and got 10 participants rushing forward. They came up on stage, did the planking and dropped out like flies, bar a few,  as the clock ticked away. By the 5th minute, the emcee was getting impatient, as he was wondering how long it was going to last. So when there was only one contestant left, the emcee declared him the winner and awarded him the game figurine. The planking lasted about 6 minutes, longer than my usual practice of 4 minutes.

I lasted longer than usual that day as the stage was flat and carpeted, and so it was easier to plank. This contrasted with training outdoors in the park, where the ground is uneven, slippery, sloping and painful on the lower arms as they press against twigs and other hard objects. As a result, the body is constantly struggling to maintain the equilibrium planked position, adding a lot more tension to the abdominal muscles.

This is the clip on that day:

During the brainstorming and planning sessions, we wanted to do tougher challenges like power push-ups,...etc, but gave those ideas up because of the risks of injuries. So we ended up with planking - still tough, but safe. Low risks.

This is what I do during my workouts:

Thanks for having me Mobile Legend.

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Hentak Kaki

Winner of Silver Screen Award (Short Film), 24th Singapore International Film Festival 2011.

Best Performance Award, 3rd Singapore Short Film Award 2012.

Went viral online to about 1,000,000++ hits.