President Donald Trump will sign a presidential memorandum on Tuesday to restore the Presidential Fitness Test Award, reviving a school-based fitness program that the White House says was phased out during the Obama administration. Members of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, National Fitness Foundation board members, Bryson DeChambeau, Gary Player, Amani Oruwariye and Noah Syndergaard are set to attend the signing.
The move brings back a performance-based benchmark for student fitness and is intended to pave the way for the administration to restore the test and awards at all American schools. Trump first signed an executive order last year to reestablish the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition and the Presidential Fitness Test, putting the issue back on the agenda before Tuesday’s memorandum.
The Presidential Physical Fitness Test has a long history in American schools. The President’s Council on Youth Fitness was first established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and schools began administering a fitness test under President John F. Kennedy. During former President Barack Obama’s second term, the original test was phased out and replaced with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, which focused primarily on assessing health rather than athleticism for America’s youth.
The Trump administration is framing the restoration as part of its broader “Make America Healthy Again” push, and the timing gives the effort a clear political edge. More than 21% of Americans ages 2 to 19 were classified as obese between 2021 and 2023, and 7% had severe obesity, figures the White House is using to argue that a new push on youth fitness is overdue.
What remains uncertain is how quickly the administration can translate Tuesday’s signing into classroom practice. The memorandum is meant to open the door to awards and testing at all American schools, but the gap between a White House directive and what districts actually adopt will determine whether the Presidential Fitness Test returns as a national standard or stays a federal talking point.
