President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Tuesday to restore the Presidential Fitness Test Award, reviving the school-based competitive fitness program as part of the administration’s broader Make America Healthy Again agenda.
The new memorandum follows an executive order Trump signed last July reestablishing a presidential fitness test for public schools and effectively reconstitutes a performance-based benchmark exam for student athletic fitness, first launched by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956.
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“My administration is working very hard to defend America’s cherished athletic traditions and pass our values of excellence and competitiveness to the next generation,” Trump said.
Reducing childhood obesity has been a priority for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a key player in the wider MAHA movement.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 1 in 5 children and adolescents in the United States are medically obese. Obesity increases an individual’s risk for diabetes, heart disease, chronic kidney disease, and other chronic conditions later in life.
The CDC also estimates that roughly 70% of U.S. adults are overweight or obese.
Kennedy said reestablishing a culture of physical fitness is also essential for military preparedness, as nearly 80% of adolescents in the U.S. cannot qualify for military service.
“That should be an eye-opener for all of us, and I’m so grateful to President Trump for his leadership and his vision of reinstituting the physical fitness test and challenging Americans to be with each other in a friendly, congenial way and to get it help each other get in shape so that we can prepare for a great future,” said Kennedy.
Several other Cabinet secretaries, including War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon, joined the president at the signing ceremony.
Hegseth said he “wasn’t the best” at the Presidential Fitness Test, but he tried each year to improve.
“We need young, strong, healthy Americans, whether you serve in the military or any other aspect of your life,” Hegseth said. “And I think this Presidential Fitness Test, Mr. President, is the perfect thing to restore that sets those standards high for young people and something for them to achieve.”
Also in attendance were several professional athletes who are members of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, including professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau, retired professional golfer Gary Player, Baltimore Ravens cornerback Amani Oruwriye, and MLB pitcher Noah Syndergaard.
Trump praised DeChambeau during the signing, saying that he had lost a significant amount of weight naturally, without GLP-1 weight-loss medication such as Wegovy or Zepbound.
“He doesn’t need the fat shot,” Trump said, adding that “he’s like a scientist with his body.”
Eisenhower established the President’s Council on Youth Fitness in the early 1950s after studies showed American children were not as physically fit as their European peers. President John F. Kennedy, who succeeded Eisenhower, changed the body’s name to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.
Former President Barack Obama phased out the Presidential Fitness Test during his second term in 2013, replacing it with the Presidential Youth Fitness program as part of former first lady Michell Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign.
When the test was eliminated in 2013, students ages 6 to 17 had to complete a 1-mile run, a 30-foot shuttle run, a sitting V-stretch, push-ups or pull-ups until failure, and as many sit-ups as possible in 60 seconds.
Critics argued at the time that the original fitness test focused too much on performance and competition rather than encouraging wellness even for those without natural athleticism.
Kennedy said during the signing ceremony that competition is necessary for positive childhood development.
“If we’re going to be competitive internationally, we need to be competitive with each other,” Kennedy said. “We need to teach people how to win and how to lose and how to process victory and defeat.”
Trump criticized his predecessor for removing the standard exam.
“We had the Obama administration, which phased out this wonderful tradition of physical fitness. Thank you, Barack, very much. Great job,” Trump said. “We’re bringing it back.”
McMahon said during the ceremony that the test would not be mandated from the top down by the Department of Education, but that she hoped it would be adopted nationwide.
Trump listed several international athletic events, including the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics, that will be hosted in the U.S. in the coming years.
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The president also highlighted the athletic Patriot Games, which will be televised in the fall, as well as the IndyCar street race and the Freedom 250 Grand Prix to be held in August in celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence.
“These next few years will be a golden age for American sports, just like it’s a golden age for America,” Trump said.
