President Trump formally nixed former first lady Michelle Obama’s student health program and reinstated the Presidential Fitness Test to schools across the country Tuesday as part of his “Make America Healthy Again” movement.
Surrounded by school children, champion golfers and cabinet secretaries, Trump announced the new Presidential Fitness Test Award, which he called “a certificate in recognition of achievement of the gold standard of physical fitness.”
“I work out so hard on a personal basis. I work out so much – like about one minute a day, max, if I’m lucky,” Trump joked to laughter in the Oval Office.
President Trump speaks before signing a proclamation to restore presidential fitness tests in schools on Tuesday, May 5, 2026. AP
The original Presidential Physical Fitness Test was scrapped in 2013 and replaced with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, part of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative, which focused more on overall health than personal athletic achievement and performance based standards.
Trump criticized the former president for removing the test.
“We had the Obama administration which phased out this wonderful tradition of physical fitness. Thank you, Barack, very much. Great job,” he said sarcastically. “But we’re bringing it back. We’re bringing it back.”
The Presidential Physical Fitness Test calls for participants to run one mile, perform as many sit-ups as possible in 60 seconds, execute pull-ups or push-ups for as long as possible, and undergo a flexibility test.
Trump greeting Washington Nationals mascot Screech and the “Racing Presidents” on the White House grounds. Getty Images
A Washington National “Racing President” participates in an event at the White House on Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Getty Images
George Washignton demonstrating how to do a pull-up. Getty Images
“Physical fitness is everything,” Trump said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. noted his late uncle, President John F. Kennedy, helped popularize the test after “he became very concerned that Americans were becoming soft.”
“He said that there’s a national security issue. It threatens our economy. We need a vigorous population that it’s in good shape, spiritually, morally, physically, if we’re going to continue to exercise leadership around the world,” RFK Jr. explained.
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Trump signed an executive order reestablishing the presidential fitness test in public schools in July 2025 as he’s sought to remake America’s health policy. But Tuesday’s event re-established the awards given to top-performing test-takers as a way to encourage schools to bring the routine back to the playground.
Golfers Bryson DeChambeau and Gary Player, Baltimore Ravens cornerback Amani Oruwariye and MLB pitcher Noah Syndergaard attended the ceremony in the Oval Office, along with Kennedy, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Housing Secretary Scott Turner, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
Trump showing the kids how to putt alongside professional golfers Gary Player and Bryson DeChambeau. REUTERS
“We need to be competitive with each other. We need to teach people how to win and how to lose and how to process victory and defeat,” Kennedy said.
“We’re now the sickest nation in the world. We’ve gone from 5% of our kids being obese to 20% 70% of adults are obese or overweight, and 77% of our children cannot qualify for military service. And 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.”
DeChambeau, winner of golf’s US Open in 2020 and 2024, recalled taking the test as a child and said he was glad it was returning.
Trump observering the students completing push-ups REUTERS
“We want to make sure our kids have the best opportunity to succeed in life, and not only from their mind, but their health and their well-being, their physical fitness is a huge priority to helping them become better human beings in general for our nation,” he said.
After the ceremony, the group went out onto the South Lawn, where they were joined by the Washington Nationals’ Racing Presidents mascots while kids played on pull-up bars and kicked soccer balls into a net
President Trump joined them for a round of putting on the presidential green, high-fiving the Racing Presidents, and dancing to “YMCA.”
After missing all three of his putts, the president watched kids perform jumping jacks, attempt to get a soccer ball past goalie DeChambeau, and try their hand at pull-ups.
The event concluded with a race featuring both the kids and the Racing Presidents, won by “Abraham Lincoln.”
