President Donald Trump is making good on his promise to reintroduce the presidential physical fitness test in schools as part of his push to make sure all Americans—except perhaps the commander-in-chief—embrace fitness and nutrition.
Last year, Trump announced his plans to bring back the competitive school-based fitness program with an executive order creating the “President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, and the Reestablishment of the Presidential Fitness Test.”
The Presidential Fitness Test Award is scheduled to make its official comeback on Tuesday when Trump signs a presidential memorandum reviving and revamping the program, Fox News reported.
It will formally re-establish a program introduced by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 that had rewarded students who hit certain fitness-test benchmarks, including in the 50-yard dash, shuttle runs, and pull-up competitions.
The Obama administration had phased out the original award and replaced it with a program that focused more on health than competition, but Trump’s version will go back to emphasizing measurable athletic standards, according to Fox.
The president will be flanked by pro athletes and his fitness-obsessed Cabinet members, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at the signing ceremony.
The test, which will be overseen by Kennedy, is supposed to appeal to members of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, many of whom supported Trump in 2024 but have begun to feel betrayed over the administration’s embrace of certain pesticides whose ingredients might cause cancer.
Trump’s own health and physical fitness, however, have been cause for concern, as the junk food-loving president’s medical reports have been kept tightly under wraps by the current administration.
The 79-year-old’s various ailments include chronically swollen ankles, bruising on his hands, bouts of confusion, public sleeping fits, slurred speech, and a surprise neck rash.
The president has attributed the bruising to taking high doses of aspirin, while the White House also said it’s due to shaking so many hands—even though Trump’s non-dominant “good hand” also has bruising at times.
Last year, the White House revealed that Trump had been diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency, a “benign and common” condition that occurs when the veins can’t manage blood flow well, making it harder for blood to return to the heart.
This year, the president is overdue for his annual physical exam, though he took the time on Monday to brag that he had “aced” a cognitive test designed to screen for signs of dementia.
A Washington Post poll released this week found that a majority of Americans did not think Trump was in good enough health to serve as president, with 59 percent of respondents saying that he didn’t have the mental sharpness to do his job, and 55 percent saying his physical health was not good enough for him to serve effectively.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle previously told the Daily Beast, “President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and he remains in excellent health.”
