Presidential Fitness Challenge

Extracted Attributes

• Type

  National physical fitness testing program

• Scope

  U.S. public middle and high schools

• PYFP Focus

  Health and lifelong physical activity, personal gains

• Other Names

  President's Challenge, Presidential Fitness Challenge

• Official Name

  Presidential Fitness Test

• Reinstatement Date

  2025-07-31

• PYFP Assessment Tool

  FITNESSGRAM®

• Original Award Program

  Presidential Physical Fitness Award (for top 15% or 85th percentile)

• Original Test Components

  Push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, standing broad jump, shuttle run, 50-yard dash, softball throw for distance

• Successor Program (2013)

  Presidential Youth Fitness Program (PYFP)

• Original Period of Operation

  Late 1950s - 2013

Timeline

• National interest in physical fitness testing emerged in the United States, initially focusing on anthropometric measurements. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1800s

• Physical fitness testing transitioned to focus on "physical efficiency" and "motor ability," including exercises like climbing, running, and jumping. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1900s

• During and after World War I, fitness testing and physical training for children increased in schools, linked to preparedness for combat. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1914

• During and after World War II, military, public health, and education services held conferences and published manuals on youth fitness. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1939

• American government agencies reassessed education, including physical education, in response to the Soviet Union's advancements. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1950s

• President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the President's Council on Youth Fitness to address concerns about child health. (Source: Vox, B105.7)

  1956-07-16

• The President's Council on Youth Fitness initiated a pilot study for a national fitness test. (Source: Vox)

  1957

• The Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik, intensifying the focus on American education and fitness. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1957-10-04

• Congress passed the National Defense Education Act, influencing physical education programs. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1958-09-02

• The Presidential Fitness Test program began in U.S. public middle and high schools. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1950s

• President Lyndon B. Johnson established the Presidential Physical Fitness Award Program to recognize youth who met or exceeded the 85th percentile on test items. (Source: Wikipedia, B105.7)

  1966

• The President's Council launched the Presidential Youth Fitness Program (PYFP) as a comprehensive school-based program. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2012-09-10

• The Presidential Fitness Test was officially phased out and replaced by the Presidential Youth Fitness Program. (Source: Wikipedia, TopEndSports)

  2013

• The President's Challenge awards program was terminated. (Source: TopEndSports)

  2018-06-30

• President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reinstate the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools nationwide. (Source: Wikipedia, B105.7)

  2025-07-31

Presidential Fitness Test

The Presidential Fitness Test is a national physical fitness testing program conducted in United States public middle and high schools from the late 1950s until 2013, when it was replaced with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program. On July 31, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reinstate the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools nationwide. National interest in physical fitness testing existed in the United States since the late 1800s. Early testing generally focused on anthropometric measurement (such as lung capacity or strength assessment) and was facilitated by organizations that emerged at the time, such as the American Association for the Advancement of Physical Education (AAAPE), and the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation (AAHPER). By the early 1900s, physical fitness testing had transitioned to focus more on the concept of "physical efficiency", a term used to describe the healthy function of bodily systems. During the early 1900s, the purpose of the fitness tests shifted more toward determining "motor ability", and consisted of climbing, running, and jumping exercises. During and after World War I, fitness testing and physical training for children increased in schools and garnered attention from governmental agencies, as they were linked to preparedness for combat. A similar process occurred during and after World War II, when military, public health, and education services held conferences and published manuals on the topic of youth fitness. In the 1950s, American government agencies were re-assessing education in general, especially regarding increasing the United States' ability to compete with the Soviet Union. For example, as a direct reaction to the Soviet Union's successful launch of the first Earth orbiting satellite, Sputnik, in 1957, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act of 1958. The act allocated funding to American universities, specifically aimed at improving programs in science, mathematics, and foreign languages. Physical education and fitness were also among the topics of reassessment during the 1950s. The AAHPER appointed a committee on physical education, which recommended that public schools shift their programs away from obstacle courses and boxing, the likes of which were popular during World War II, and toward a more balanced approach to recreation, including games, sports, and outdoor activities.

Web Search Results

• Presidents Challenge Fitness Awards

  Home > Fitness Testing > Groups > Children > Presidents Challenge # President's Challenge The President's Challenge was a fitness award program for school age children in the United States. The original Presidential Physical Fitness Award began in 1966. Over the years the program has recognized the fitness activities of millions of youth. Now called the President's Challenge, it includes four separate programs, which are detailed below. The awards program was terminated on June 30, 2018. [...] From 2013, the Presidential Physical Fitness Test is to be gradually phased out and replaced by the Presidential Youth Fitness Program (PYFP). The PYFP makes use of the FITNESSGRAM® assessment program, which focuses on health and lifelong physical activity. This new test still includes sprints, push-ups and pull-ups, but now also includes body fat and body mass measurements. There is also a change in the focus of results - certificates and other awards recognize personal gains, instead of [...] Active Lifestyle Program - This award encourages both students and adults to include activity in their everyday lives.

• The history of the Presidential Fitness Test | Popular Science

  What resulted was a battery of physical-fitness tests that would collectively be known as the President’s Challenge, or the aforementioned Presidential Fitness Test. The original six-part test consisted of push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, a standing broad jump, a shuttle run, a 50-yard dash and a softball throw for distance, ostensibly because it’s helpful to know who amongst the troops has the arm strength necessary to chuck a grenade the furthest, or at all. [...] Although it was ultimately abandoned in 2013, the Presidential Fitness Test was a holdover from years of government tinkering—both direct and indirect—in the physical education of the nation’s youth. But while millions of American children were subjected to the individual tests that collectively made up the test, with the top 15 percent (more or less) qualifying for a special award, it’s unlikely that they understood that their results were part of a massive information-gathering effort by the

• Presidential Fitness Test - Wikipedia

  The Presidential Fitness Test is a national physical fitness testing program conducted in United States public middle and high schools from the late 1950s until 2013, when it was replaced with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program. On July 31, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reinstate the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools nationwide. [...] In 1966, Lyndon B. Johnson, Kennedy's successor, established the Presidential Physical Fitness Award Program to acknowledge youth who met or exceeded the 85th percentile on all seven test items. This program later contributed much of the fodder of complaints about the test, inspiring competition and reinitiating relative benchmarks into physical education classes across the nation. [...] On September 10, 2012, the President's Council launched the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, presented as a comprehensive school-based program that combined science and technology to promote the health and physical fitness of all of America's youth. The Program was created through a private-public partnership between the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Fitness Foundation, the Society of Health and Physical

• A brief history of the bizarre and sadistic Presidential Fitness Test - Vox

  So Eisenhower acted. In 1956, he created the President’s Council on Youth Fitness, in the hopes of making American kids fit enough to compete with the Swiss. The next year, the group initiated a pilot study of a national fitness test — the Presidential Fitness Challenge. The only problem? The test was nothing like the Kraus-Weber tests that started the fitness scare in the first place. ## How the Presidential Fitness Test became like a military training exercise [...] Under President Lyndon Johnson, the name changed yet again — to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports — but the test remained as grueling. Johnson also added the Physical Fitness Award for the fittest kids, reserving it for the top 15 percent of achievers. Subsequent presidents made only modest tweaks to the acronyms and methodology. Later, celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger ensured the test continued to help students experience crippling shame in front of their peers. [...] Those are just a few of the torturous exercises from the Presidential Fitness Test, the physical-fitness gantlet for middle- and high-school kids in the United States. It was finally retired after the 2012–‘13 school year. But even though the Presidential Fitness Test is now a historical relic, questions linger about why we were ever forced to do it in the first place. It all began when two rock-climbing pioneers scared Dwight D. Eisenhower into creating a new fitness regimen.

• The History—and Revival—of the Presidential Fitness Test - B105.7

  The Presidential Fitness Test was officially launched in 1966 under President Lyndon B. Johnson as a response to studies showing American youth were falling behind their international peers in physical fitness. But the roots of the program go back further. In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the President’s Council on Youth Fitness to address growing concerns about child health. [...] “This is a wonderful tradition, and we’re bringing it back,” Trump said at the White House. The test’s return also revives the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, now packed with athletes and sports figures—including pro golfer Bryson DeChambeau, WWE’s Triple H, and NFL veteran Lawrence Taylor. [...] On July 31, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order reestablishing the Presidential Fitness Test, calling it “an important step in our mission to make America healthy again.”