President Trump on Thursday reestablished the Presidential Fitness Test for American schoolchildren, a program created in 1966 to help interest young people in healthy, active lifestyles. "This is an important step in our mission to make America healthy again," Trump said. In the beginning, children had to run and perform situps, pullups or pushups, and a sit-and-reach test, but the program changed in 2012 during the Obama administration to focus more on individual health than athletic feats, the AP reports.
In a ceremony in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Trump signed an order reestablishing the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, as well as the fitness test, to be administered by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The council also will develop criteria for a Presidential Fitness Award. In 2012, the assessment evolved into the Youth Fitness Program, which the government said "moved away from recognizing athletic performance to providing a barometer on student's health." Then-first lady Michelle Obama also promoted her "Let's Move" initiative focused on reducing childhood obesity through diet and exercise.
The Youth Fitness Test, according to a Health and Human Services Department website last updated in 2023 but still online Thursday, "minimizes comparisons between children and instead supports students as they pursue personal fitness goals for lifelong health." The return of the exam brought mixed reactions from some who study exercise. Trump is putting a welcome focus on physical activity, but a test alone won't make children healthier, said Laura Richardson, a kinesiology professor at the University of Michigan. The exam is only a starting point that should be paired with lessons, she said. "It's not just, you get a score and you're doomed," said Richardson, whose teaching focuses on obesity. "But you get a score, and we can figure out a program that really helps the improvement."
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