Trump resurrects Presidential Fitness Test in MAHA move
President Donald Trump has reinstated the Presidential Fitness Test through a new memorandum, reviving a school-based fitness program originally established in 1956. The move is part of the administration's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative, aimed at combating childhood obesity and improving national fitness. The test, which had been replaced in 2013 under President Obama, emphasizes competition and physical performance for students.
- ▪President Trump signed a memorandum to restore the Presidential Fitness Test Award as part of the MAHA agenda.
- ▪The original test was established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 and was replaced in 2013 by the Obama administration with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program.
- ▪Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited military preparedness, noting that nearly 80% of U.S. adolescents are ineligible for military service due to fitness and health issues.
- ▪The CDC reports that about 1 in 5 U.S. children and adolescents are obese, increasing their risk for chronic diseases.
- ▪Professional athletes including Bryson DeChambeau and Noah Syndergaard attended the signing ceremony as members of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.
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President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Tuesday to restore the Presidential Fitness Test Award, reviving the school-based competitive fitness program as part of the administration’s broader Make America Healthy Again agenda. The new memorandum follows an executive order Trump signed last July reestablishing a presidential fitness test for public schools and effectively reconstitutes a performance-based benchmark exam for student athletic fitness, first launched by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956.
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