October 28, 2025
11 min read
Key takeaways:
- President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to bring the Presidential Fitness Test back to schools in the United States.
- Experts question if this is the best way to inspire a love for fitness in kids.
On July 31, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to bring the Presidential Fitness Test back to schools in the United States.
According to a White House press release, the fitness test “reestablishes a gold standard for youth physical fitness.” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will oversee its administration.
“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,” Trump said in a press release. “Together, we are making fitness fun, competitive and cool again.”
Presidential Fitness Test vs. Youth Fitness Program
The Presidential Fitness Test was commonplace in U.S. schools from the late 1950s until it was replaced in 2013 by President Barack Obama’s Presidential Youth Fitness Program.
The most recent version of the Presidential Fitness Test from 2012 included pull-ups or push-ups, sit-ups, sit-and-reach, shuttle run and a 1-mile run.
“[These] are markers of fitness, but they are more athletic markers and not necessarily what you think of with lifetime fitness,” Kevin D. Walter, MD, medical director of pediatric and adolescent sports medicine at Children’s Wisconsin, told Healio. “It is much more rewarding for the kids who are more athletic to begin with.”
Despite the program existing across public schools for nearly 60 years, Walter said very few studies evaluated how the Presidential Fitness Test affected youth fitness.
“As time has gone by, we have learned there are a whole lot of other factors that influence health and wellness for kids that the Presidential Fitness Test does not focus on or encourage,” he said.
Michael Richardson, MD, a primary care provider and President of the Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians, told Healio that the fitness test was mostly looking for the top performers. But the Obama-era program “is less of a competition” and “more focused on individual health,” he said. It works to determine a child’s fitness as measured against a healthy, age-appropriate range.
“As a family doctor, that’s what I’m focused on most: who’s the person in front of me, what are their unique health goals and how can we improve them?” he said. “Whereas the Presidential Fitness Test is looking at a group of individuals, comparing them to each other, and that gives me a little bit less information about how they are doing as an individual, and, therefore, how I can impact their health becomes a little bit more vague.”
Judy LoBianco, past president of the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE America) and current president of HPE Solutions LLC Consulting, an educational counseling business, told Healio that the Presidential Youth Fitness Program is not only a group of tests to “help kids achieve a healthy fitness zone rather than a single standard,” but also includes lessons on goal-setting and decision-making, plans for family exercise time and participation logs for children so they can “have an overall understanding of their wellness for themselves.”
“It’s hard to stand in front of a child and say, ‘You pass this test, and you get a patch from the president or you don’t,’ vs. ‘Hey, we’re going to learn about this healthy fitness zone, and if you don’t quite make it into the zone, here are some things you can do to improve this particular aspect of your fitness,’” she said. “The President’s Youth Fitness Program really encouraged families moving together and I found it was an advertisement for the best physical education possible. We are successful if we get … kids excited about movement. And the Presidential Fitness Test was more like, ‘OK, everybody sit, and one person is going to do the flexed arm hang, and we’re going to watch their arm shake until they get embarrassed.’”
LoBianco said it is important that physical education is “concerned about the whole child” — including their mental health and social interactions.
“I watched the Presidential Youth Fitness Program administered many, many, many, many times, and the differences are clear: there’s a competitiveness to the Presidential Fitness Test, while there is an embracing of the Presidential Youth Fitness Program,” LoBianco continued. “That program educates and supports the whole child on what we call the journey of physical literacy.”
So, LoBianco said she is “sad that the test is back.”
“What I’m concerned about is that people think that bringing back the Presidential Fitness Test will make a healthier child, will cure obesity, will make kids the fittest and strongest they’ve ever been,” LoBianco said. “If that were the case, physical educators would have figured it out long ago.”
What should the new test include?
It is still unclear what will be included in the revived Presidential Fitness Test or when it will go into effect.
“The reintroduction of the Presidential Fitness Test can be beneficial if it is designed in a way to promote achievable fitness goals that children from all backgrounds can attain,” Richardson said. “I’m eager to know how the program will develop and if it will support schools in promoting these goals.”
When asked about what the new test should encompass, Walter recommended a less challenging and more engaging program for children who are not as athletic.
Charlotte Shanaver, PhD, a sports psychologist at Children’s Wisconsin, also stressed the importance of fun-based activities.
It is unlikely that any program could be engaging and exciting for every child, according to Walter and Shanaver. However, both agreed that a more holistic approach to fitness would be beneficial. This means going beyond athleticism to discuss physical activity, nutrition, sleep and digital wellness, which can all impact kids’ physical and mental health.
Richardson also said that the most important element of any youth fitness program is considering what health care providers can do with that result.
“I want a fitness test that gives health professionals and physical education teachers the information they need to help that individual grow and improve their health,” he said. But it is “yet to be told” if the test will do that.
LoBianco said the new test development must include input from a variety of experts — “physical education researchers, kinesiologists, motor learning specialists, physical educators from all walks of life” — and it “has got to treat the whole child with respect.”
“At the end of the day, a thoughtful, loving, caring teacher in the classroom is what makes for a great phys ed experience, and this test can’t throw that off those rails,” she said. “We have to be able to provide trust for the child, and I don’t know that a child would trust their physical educator if they put them in a situation that makes them feel uncomfortable.”
LoBianco said that, instead of reviving the old test, she “would have rather had someone in authority support and defend the need for physical education in schools, funding physical education, keeping class sizes down, giving more time to physical educators and having communities rally around this being an introduction to wellness for life, and understand that physical education is supposed to be something that imports joy.”
A challenge
According to Shanaver, fitness is not easily measured, because there is no operational definition for it.
“The word ‘fitness’ is trying to say that you are fit to do something or complete something in a specific way,” she said. “There is mental fitness, physical fitness, emotional fitness.”
Shanaver said physical activity can include actions not typically aligned with “fitness,” like dancing, going for a walk or even free-form movement.
“The research on mental well-being and kids’ physical activity is far more about getting kids moving in general and creating a positive relationship with movement, vs. the limited definition of what fitness can mean in various settings,” she said.
Walter agreed, explaining that a person who goes on hikes may be as physically “fit” as someone who plays basketball every day, but the basketball player would likely be able to complete more sit-ups than the hiker.
LoBianco also noted the challenge of creating a scientifically backed program.
“Lots of people have strong feelings about their physical education experience. It’s a love-hate thing. And in 2025, we want kids to have a meaningful experience. It means very similar things that children told us they expect of their physical education experience: joy; social interaction; levels of challenge; personal, relevant lessons and games; and pure delight. And that there’s nothing scientific about that,” she said. “If you want to know what makes for a meaningful experience, you ask children.”
Mental health ‘is at stake’
Shanaver said there are no data about how the Presidential Fitness Test affects children’s mental well-being.
“There is a lot of anecdotal evidence,” she said. “You can read people’s opinions on various things or people’s reactions, but there are not a bunch of empirical data surrounding it.”
LoBianco said she has “images and memories of just pure humiliation and embarrassment for young people who could not reach the standard of the test.”
“Physical education itself is a visual performance, so you had moments where individual kids were on display while the class looked on, and the test represented either disappointment or victory. That was my experience as a kid, and that’s the experiences that many have felt that they had had, which is why we moved to a different test, because the research was clear that it wasn’t working,” she said.
LoBianco said “the test anxiety was really clear” for children who were “going to be feeling embarrassed and ashamed” because they knew they would be last in the mile run, for example.
“I had kids who outright refused to do the mile and would just walk it in defiance, so that they didn’t have to deal with coming in last, even though they were working as hard as they could,” she said.
That means this change could also impact students’ mental health, according to LoBianco.
“The mental health of every child is at stake here, because it will impact them if they’re unable to reach the standard, which will be most kids,” she said. “So, I think this is bigger than just a Presidential Fitness Test. This is about protecting the integrity of a child’s mental health and not putting them in situations where they’re going to end up hating physical activity as a result of what you’re trying to do here.”
Considering how many students have had bad experiences with the test, Richardson said “It’s going to be important for the adults to create an environment that kids can feel supported to try hard, and if they fail — however they determine that they fail — that they’re going to be acknowledged for their effort and supported in how to grow.”
What can PCPs do?
Once the federal government releases more information about what will be included in the Presidential Fitness Test, Walter said physicians should inform themselves to better counsel their patients and caregivers.
“The two biggest things that I would push would be for the provider to emphasize that this is not a competition against your fellow students — which I think is what the old-school Presidential Fitness Test turned into,” Walter said. “It should be about improving yourself. The other thing providers can do is try to encourage the whole family to get involved — not necessarily doing the most push-ups you can, but taking part in the nutrition, sleep, family activity. It doesn’t have to be joining a gym; it can be going for a walk or playing in a park.”
He said too many people associate exercise with sports, when there are a variety of other ways for kids — and their parents — to get active.
“Research shows that the more you enjoy something, the more likely you are to do it,” Shanaver said. “Trying to encourage more family-based, fun-based, play-based things to help kids stay engaged is super important.”
Richardson also advised parents and PCPs have conversations with children about what could come up in the test to better understand what they are ready for or intimidated by.
“That way, they can support them as the test comes and help out if there’s anything needed, whether it’s helping them exercise or deal with any limitations,” he said. “For example, if a child has asthma, it’s going to be very hard for them to do, say, a shuttle run or any kind of sprinting. So, making sure that the child has the tools that they have to do their best [is important].”
Additionally, medical exemptions should be determined “on a case-by-case basis” Richardson said. “Asthma can be a very limiting condition, but doesn’t necessarily exclude them from testing. But sometimes asthma can be so severe that even with the best medication, a run would just be out of the question That’s a time where a medical exemption may be needed.”
Take-home message
At a time when students and patients regularly see advertisements for new medications like GLP-1 receptor agonists — and hoping these alone will solve weight-related issues — LoBianco said it is as important for PCPs and physical educators to encourage families to adopt healthy lifestyles.
“You have to remind kids that the exercise is the medicine, and encourage children to participate in their physical education experiences and to get exercise based on the CDC’s physical activity guidelines — 150 minutes a week for young children; 225 minutes a week for secondary school children — and be able to educate parents about the need for movement and what the benefits of movement are,” she said. “It’s like the magic solution to what a lot of what kids go through. A lot of things that parents and principals and teachers care about most, exercise is the answer, and a test is not going to solve those problems.”
She said what will is “a community surrounding a child with the same beliefs about how valuable a healthy, active life really is.”
“We should care about our health in the beginning, and embed those values in our children, because it’s the most important thing that they’ll go through life with. You only get one body,” she said.
Richardson said, above all, the focus on fitness should be with a purpose.
“What are we going to use this information for? If a child is struggling in whatever test they take, what we need to do as clinicians is be able to understand their individual health needs and cater their treatment plan depending on the outcome,” he said. “Just because a child can’t do, say, 10 pull-ups doesn’t mean they’re unhealthy. So how do we help parents and children understand their health so they can understand the results of these tests and move forward?”
“I think what’s important to recognize for physicians is that we’re not trained in fitness, and that’s OK. We can’t understand everything,” he continued. “Having the tools needed — the support system to provide for parents and kids who want to know more about fitness — will be very helpful, whether it’s understanding if there are any registered dietitians in the area or personal trainers or wherever they can lean on for more fitness care for children.”
For more information:
Judy LoBianco can be reached on X at @jlobianc or at her website www.hpesolutionsllc.com. Michael Richardson, MD, can be reached on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/michael-richardson-409b4b79. Charlotte Shanaver, PhD, and Kevin D. Walter, MD, can be reached at primarycare@healio.com.
