President Trump is nixing Michelle Obama’s student health program and returning the Presidential Fitness Test to schools across the country as part of his “Make America Healthy Again” movement.
Surrounded by school children, professional athletes 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 as people laughed.
The original Presidential Physical Fitness Test was removed in President Obama’s administration and replaced with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, part of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative.
Obama’s program focused more on 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. But we’re bringing it back. We’re bringing it back,’ he said.
The Presidential Physical Fitness Test consisted of running one mile, performing as many sit-ups as possible in 60 seconds, performing pull-ups or push-ups until failure, and a flexibility test.
“Physical fitness is everything,” Trump said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. noted his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, launched the test as he worried Americans were becoming “soft.”
“He became very concerned that Americans were becoming soft,” he said.
“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,” he added of the late president.
Trump signed an executive order reestablishing the presidential fitness test in public schools last July as he’s sought to remake America’s health policy. But Tuesday’s event re-established the awards given for top test takers and was a way to encourage schools to bring it back to the playground.
Golfer Bryson DeChambeau, golfer Gary Player, Baltimore Ravens cornerback Amani Oruwariye and MLB pitcher Noah Syndergaard attended the ceremony in the Oval Office.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Housing Secretary Scott Turner, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon were also there.
Kennedy praised Trump for returning competition to schools.
“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,” he 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,” he added.
DeChambeau recalled taking the test as a child and said he was glad it was returning to school.
“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 kids played on pull up bars and kicked soccer balls to a net. There were also lawn races and a colorful cast of characters, including the Racing Presidents from the Washington Nationals baseball team.
