Millions of students across the United States are set to face the Presidential Fitness Test again after the Trump administration revived the long-running school gym challenge.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr announced the test’s return in Atlantic City this week, following President Donald Trump’s May memorandum reinstating student awards tied to the program.
The fitness assessment, traditionally administered twice each year, was introduced in the 1950s before being discontinued in 2013 under the Obama administration and replaced by the Presidential Youth Fitness Program.
Kennedy said reviving the test is central to the administration’s Make America Healthy Again initiative.
He 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, President Trump is restoring that vision.
‘By bringing back the Presidential Fitness Test… we are giving parents, schools, and communities the tools to help children build healthy habits, strengthen their bodies, and discover what they’re capable of achieving.’
Speaking to News Nation during Monday’s rollout, RFK Jr added: ‘I think it was a huge mistake to get rid of it… our children are sicker [and] have a higher chronic disease rate than any country in the world.’
President Donald Trump greets the Washington Nationals’ ‘Racing Presidents’ in the Oval Office last month after signing a proclamation restoring the Presidential Fitness Test Award for students
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr announced the return of the Presidential Fitness Test. He is shown above doing pull-ups in August 2025
ALSO READ: U.S. Diplomat Daniel Riva Allegedly Killed by Thai Ex-Wife in Myanmar
A statement from HHS added: ‘America’s children are facing a chronic disease crisis. Nearly 1 in 5 children is overweight or obese. Seventy-seven percent of young Americans are ineligible for military service, with poor health and physical fitness among the leading reasons.
‘That’s why HHS is helping families, schools, and communities make physical activity and healthy habits part of everyday life.’
Critics of the program, however, say the fitness test is bad for some children’s self confidence if they don’t perform well on the exercises in front of their classmates.
Exercises include how many sit ups kids can do in a minute, how long they can hold a plank, how fast they can run a mile, how many laps they can complete of the shuttle run and how many right-angle push-ups and pull-ups they can complete before failure.
If students are looking to earn the National or Presidential award, their results can be compared and ranked based on age (ranging from six to 17 years old) and split between boys and girls.
For example, to earn the Presidential Award, a 16-year-old boy would need to either complete 57 sit-ups in one minute or hold a plank for 156 seconds, either run a mile in six minutes and eight seconds or complete 84 shuttle run laps, and either complete 44 right-angle push-ups or complete 11 pull-ups.
Critics of the program say the fitness test is bad for some children’s self confidence if they don’t perform well on the exercises in front of their classmates
For a 16-year-old girl, the benchmarks are either 48 sit-ups or a 145-second plank, either a seven minute and 59 second mile or 50 shuttle run laps and either 24 right-angle push-ups or three pull-ups.
Trump first announced the return of the Presidential Fitness Test in 2025 and signed an executive order in July of that year.
When signing it, Trump said: ‘We are building a nation of strong, proud, and unstoppable young Americans. The Presidential Fitness Test is not just about physical strength – it’s about character, competition, and confidence.
‘Together, we are making fitness fun, competitive, and cool again.’
