Can the Presidential Fitness Test Help Get American Children Back Into Shape?
HHS Secretary Kennedy has overseen a push to bring the Presidential Fitness Test to schools across America. Now those schools must do their part and require it.
Last week, joined in Atlantic City, New Jersey by Congressman Jeff Van Drew, WWE, and some 75 children at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the return of the Presidential Fitness Test, discontinued more than a decade ago.
In making the announcement, Secretary Kennedy said, “More than 60 years ago, my uncle, President John F. Kennedy, challenged America to make physical fitness a national priority because he understood that the strength of our nation begins with the health of our people.”
Today, by all metrics, American kids have gone soft. Will the Presidential Fitness Test, which President Trump signed into law last July, help toughen them up?
In 2024, a group that advocates for greater physical activity released a report card on physical activity for children that showed only about a quarter of 6- to 17-year-olds in the United States get the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity.
More than 20 percent of American kids are now considered obese, with obesity connoting a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or higher.
Critics point to how most American children spend their days – sitting in classrooms, with recess only for elementary school students. Those recess periods, critics argue, are too few and too short for the typical 7-hour school day. And only a handful of states mandate daily recess, even for kids in grades K-5.
What’s more, in most American elementary schools, children only have physical education (PE) classes once or twice a week, while in high schools there is no recess period, usually no outdoor time, and often no PE requirement.
These facts help explain why the majority of American kids not involved in after-school sports quickly lose muscle tone and aerobic ability – and, by the time they graduate high school, are out of shape.
In bringing back the Presidential Fitness Test, the Trump administration aims to reverse this disturbing trend.
As reconfigured, the Presidential Fitness Test has two levels – Presidential and National. The former has more rigorous standards and is likely to challenge the majority of American kids, even those who are athletes.
Presidential Level
A 10-year-old boy has to do either 45 curl-ups or hold a plank for 119 seconds.
For Cardio, he has to either run a mile in 7 minutes, 57 seconds, or he has to run at least 55 laps (of a 20 meter stop/ start sprint) in 20 minutes.
For Upper Body work, he has to either do 22 right-angle push-ups or six pull-ups.
A 17-year-old boy has to run at least a 6 minute, 6 second mile or do 84 laps in 20 minutes.
A 10-year-old girl has to run a mile in 9 minutes, 19 seconds or do 41 laps in 20 minutes.
A 17-year-old girl has to run a mile in 7 minutes, 59 seconds or do 50 laps in 20 minutes.
You can check the chart on the White House website to see the passing Presidential Level scores for boys and girls at different ages.
The return of the Presidential Fitness Test follows an executive order that President Donald Trump signed last year, and is part of the MAHA movement’s push to improve Americans’ overall health.
The original Presidential Fitness Test was inspired by testing done in the early 1950s that showed American children were much less physically fit than their European counterparts. In 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower established the President’s Council on Youth Fitness, and this council began developing tests for youth fitness.
In December of 1960, President-elect John F. Kennedy wrote a remarkable article for Sports Illustrated that was published under the headline: “The Soft American.” He began with a reference to Ancient Greece, describing how 2,500 years ago, men “from all quarters of the Greek world” gathered in Olympia to compete in the famous athletic contests that we know today as the Olympic games and how, when they returned to their homes with their Olympic crowns, they were greeted as heroes and received rich rewards.
“Thus the same civilizations which produced some of our highest achievements of philosophy and drama, government and art, also gave us a belief in the importance of physical soundness which has become a part of the Western tradition,” Kennedy wrote.
But he went on to say the idea that the physical well-being of a nations’ citizens determines the strength of that nation was in danger in 1960 America.
Kennedy highlighted the poor performance of American children on physical fitness tests in the 1950s, and also the startling fact that almost one out of every two young American males was rejected for military service because they were mentally, morally or physically unfit.
The article was widely read and discussed, and focused the attention of all Americans on the need for rigorous physical fitness, especially in schools.
Once in office, President Kennedy changed the name of the organization Eisenhower had founded to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, and appeared in ads, produced by the Advertising Council, promoting 50-mile hikes. Details of JFK’s fitness program even became the substance of a best-selling book.
President Kennedy’s successor, President Lyndon Johnson, established the Physical Fitness Award Program to recognize children and teenagers who exceeded the 85th percentile on the fitness tests.
But the Presidential Fitness Test fell out of favor in recent years amid complaints that naturally athletic kids won commendation while children who were less athletic were made to feel inferior. In 2013, it was discontinued.
The return of the Presidential Fitness Test, coupled with MAHA-inspired nutrition, are generational opportunities to change Americans’ health, one student at a time. The test has already been embraced by several states, including Tennessee and Arkansas. Let’s hope more states, and their schools, will follow suit.
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I'm rewriting this piece to call out an interesting perspective: "IF the majority of American kids ARE not involved in after-school sports, THEY WILL quickly lose muscle tone and aerobic ability – and, by the time they graduate high school, WILL BE out of shape."
That's a recipe for a sick society, one that pharma will look to heal.
The fitness test sounds good and is a great step in the right direction, but ultimately, it's a blip in a pool of negativity on negative health. It will be up to the individual family to ensure proper health, but that again is a battle to fight.
In my opinion, putting standards first as a mistake.
My experience with Gym class in the 70s and with my children’s gym classes in the 2000s had no inspiration
And in fact, it was so bad it just led to avoidance.
No one looked forward to going to gym class to run laps or do push-ups and situps while the coaches yelled at you to keep going.
A Little over 10 years ago, I was introduced, perhaps through my second childhood, to yoga and acro yoga and parkour, and Slack line I went to a retreat with seven different instructors. It was electrifying. One of the instructors had gotten parkour into a high school in New York State.
Baseball and football and after school sports are great for those who are interested, but once school is over, they’re gone how did that build a lifelong love of body awareness.
Understanding Functional anatomy and and being bodily aware to avoid injury or further degradation.
Ballet destroys people’s feet by the time they’re 30. It is well known that baseball and football players are subject to serious lifelong injuries.
Now I am 64 and I am in decent physical fitness although I wish I was bette. I have chronic bicep tendinitis. I focus On strength training and flexibility. Mostly avoiding passive stretching, but focusing on strengthening and range of motion.
But none of what I learned as an adult was ever inspired in me as a teenager in school
Put inspiration first and find those great teachers
And the abilities will follow.