RFK Jr.'s Fitness Test Returns — Experts Say It Must Be Fun
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the new presidential fitness test at an Atlantic City event on Monday alongside WWE star Paul Levesque (Triple H), reviving a test that had been discontinued in 2012.
- The new test mirrors prior versions — a timed run, upper-body strength test, and core test with age- and gender-based benchmarks — and is backed by a White House task force chaired by golfer Bryson DeChambeau with Levesque as vice chair.
- HHS said multiple states agreed to incorporate the test into school curricula but declined to name them, even as a CDC survey found only about 1 in 4 students met the daily 60-minute activity recommendation in 2023.
- Avery Faigenbaum of the College of New Jersey told STAT that "measuring fitness does not create fitness" and warned the format can be embarrassing and "turn people off from physical activity."
- A 2018 study co-authored by Matthew Ladwig of Purdue University Northwest, published in the Translational Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, linked negative school PE memories — especially public embarrassment — to sedentary habits later in life.
- When pressed on self-esteem, Kennedy said "failure is a part of life" and pointed to WWE stars who "stand back up and fight again," a comparison undercut by the article's note that WWE fights are scripted.
- Experts including Adam Annacone of UT-Arlington said the test only works if paired with comprehensive, fun, multimodal programs plus access to noncompetitive activities like recess and positive role models.
Why it matters: With only about 1 in 4 students meeting the CDC's 60-minute daily activity guideline, Kennedy's relaunch puts a public benchmark back in schools — but the 2018 survey of more than 1,000 participants cited by experts suggests public fitness testing correlates with the very lifelong sedentary habits the policy aims to reverse, unless paired with fun and private, supportive feedback.
