President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday reviving the Presidential Fitness Test, the once-ubiquitous school program that for more than five decades had American children running miles, doing sit-ups, and stretching at least twice a year during gym class.
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The announcement is part of the Trump Administration’s push to address “crisis levels” of childhood obesity, sedentary behavior, and poor nutrition after Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released a report in May warning that American children are suffering from chronic diseases at an accelerating rate, largely due to inactivity.
“This was a wonderful tradition, and we’re bringing it back,” Trump said at the signing ceremony flanked by a group of prominent and often controversial athletes, including Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker and former NFL linebacker Lawrence Taylor. “This is an important step in our mission to Make America Healthy Again… What we’re doing is very important.”
The program, which was retired by President Barack Obama in 2012, involved testing students aged 6-17 on a series of exercises designed to measure strength, endurance and flexibility, including a timed mile run, push-ups or pull-ups, sit-ups and the sit-and-reach stretch. For decades, those who scored in the top percentiles received a Presidential Physical Fitness Award, while others were given a patch or certificate for participation.
The revival has already sparked debate among educators and health experts. While some praise the Administration for putting national attention on youth fitness, others warn that the Presidential Fitness Test risks humiliating students who are unable to meet the criteria, potentially fostering a culture of body shaming in schools. Research has found that concerns about body image can emerge as early as age 3, and may become worse over time.
But supporters of the move argue that a national standard can motivate students. “We need to re-instill that spirit of competition and that spirit and that commitment to nutrition and physical fitness,” Kennedy said at the signing ceremony. “For me, it was a huge item of pride when I was growing up.”
Vice President J.D. Vance framed the initiative as part of a broader cultural shift: “I think all of us have thought at one point in the last few years that kids spend a little too much time on their phones, maybe a little bit too much time in front of the TV,” Vance said Thursday. “We just want kids to do better. We want them to be healthier.”
Here’s what to know about the Presidential Fitness Test program.
What Is the Presidential Fitness Test?
For more than five decades, the Presidential Fitness Test was a staple in public schools: children would complete a series of physical activities that measured strength, agility, and flexibility at least twice a year during gym class. Those activities included running one mile, sit-ups, pull ups, shuttle run, and the sit-and-reach.
Students who scored at or above the 85th percentile in all of the tests could earn the Presidential Physical Fitness Award—a patch or certificate bearing the presidential seal, meant to inspire national pride and personal excellence.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower first initiated the fitness test when he created the President’s Council on Youth Fitness in 1956 after a study revealed that 58% of American children failed at least one of six exercise tests, such as sit-ups, while only 8.7% of European children failed at least one of the same tests. Sports Illustrated at the time called it “The Report That Shocked the President.”
“Recent studies, both private and public, have revealed disturbing deficiencies in the fitness of American youth,” Eisenhower’s executive order read. “Since the youth of our Nation is one of the greatest of our assets, it is imperative that the fitness of our youth be improved and promoted to the greatest possible extent.”
President John F. Kennedy then built on Eisenhower’s efforts to create a “more completely fit American youth,” writing in a Sports Illustrated piece called “The Soft American” that kids’ poor physical fitness was a “menace” to national security.
“He was lamenting the fact that America had prided itself on a beef jerky toughness, and that we were losing—that we were falling behind Europeans, we were falling behind other nations,” his nephew Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at the White House on Thursday.
The fitness council created under Eisenhower then formalized the Presidential Physical Fitness Award Program under President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966. “It is essential that our young people develop their physical capabilities as well as their mental skills,” Johnson said in a statement announcing the awards program. “Sports and other forms of active play promote good health and help provide our country with sturdy young citizens equal to the challenges of the future.”
When and Why Did the Test Go Away?
The Presidential Fitness Test was phased out during the Obama Administration in 2012 and replaced with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, a more individualized assessment that provided “training and resources to schools for assessing, tracking, and recognizing youth fitness,” according to an HHS website about the program.
Schools that adopted the program gained access to web-based tests, standards to testing, calculators for aerobic capacity and body composition, and online training. The initiative measured student fitness with an assessment called the FitnessGram, which measured aerobic capacity, body composition, flexibility, muscle strength, and muscular endurance.
The shift came amid growing concerns about the Presidential Fitness Test’s psychological impact on children and a broader pivot in public health thinking. Rather than rewarding top scorers, the new program emphasized “personal bests” and offered resources to help educators and parents promote lifelong physical activity. HHS said that the Obama-era model aimed to “minimize comparisons between children” and foster more inclusive approaches to health education.
“The new program has moved away from recognizing athletic performance to providing a barometer on student’s health,” the HHS website read. “The program minimizes comparisons between children and instead supports students as they pursue personal fitness goals for lifelong health.”
Why Is Trump Bringing It Back?
The Trump Administration says the move addresses what it calls “crisis levels” of childhood obesity, sedentary behavior, and poor nutrition. A May report from the Department of Health and Human Services—led by Kennedy—warned that American children are suffering from chronic diseases at an accelerating rate, largely due to inactivity and poor diet.
That report called for a nationwide campaign to combat what Kennedy described as a “health emergency.”
“American youth have seen a steady decline in activity and cardiorespiratory fitness over decades, contributing to rising obesity, diabetes, mental health disorders, and cardiometabolic risks,” the report said, noting a study from the Physical Activity Alliance that found that more than 70% of children aged 6-17, or 85% in just teenagers, did not meet the 2024 federal minimum recommendation of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.
In addition to reintroducing the test, Trump’s order directs the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition to develop criteria for the new Presidential Fitness Award and create school programs that reward excellence in physical education. Golfer Bryson DeChambeau will serve as the council’s chairman.
Trump has often referred to himself as a sports enthusiast. He frequently attends major sporting events and on Thursday said he was “always a person that loved playing sports.”
“I was good at sports,” Trump said. “When you were really focused on sports, you thought about nothing else… This is one of the reasons I like golf. You get away for a couple of hours.”