Remember running the mile in school? The Presidential Fitness Test is coming back

President Trump displays a signed executive bid during Thursday's signing ceremonial successful nan White House, surrounded by management and master athletes including golfer Bryson DeChambeau and WWE Chief Creative Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption

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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

For generations of U.S. schoolchildren, phrases for illustration "shuttle run" and "sit-and-reach" apt conjure vivid memories of what was erstwhile a staple of American beingness education: nan Presidential Fitness Test. And acknowledgment to a caller executive order, it's slated to return to gymnasiums nationwide.

On Thursday, President Trump signed nan order reviving nan test, a group of standardized exercises that schools conducted to measurement students' beingness fittingness for complete half a period until 2013, erstwhile President Barack Obama phased it retired successful favour of a much holistic approach. It's not yet clear which exercises will beryllium portion of nan trial going forward, aliases erstwhile it will launch.

It was traditionally conducted erstwhile aliases doubly a twelvemonth for students ages 10 to 17, and included drills for illustration push-ups, nan back-and-forth PACER moving test and nan infamous one-mile run.

And it was a competitory affair: Students who placed astatine aliases supra nan 85th percentile connected each exercises were eligible for nan Presidential Fitness Award, which Trump's bid is besides reinstating.

"From nan precocious 1950s until 2013, postgraduate scholars each crossed our state competed against each different successful nan statesmanlike fittingness test, and it was a large deal," Trump said astatine nan signing ceremony, flanked by a slew of professional athletes. "This was a awesome tradition, and we're bringing it back."

Trump is besides reestablishing nan President's Council connected Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition and tasking it pinch processing criteria for nan test. Its rollout will beryllium administered by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" report, released successful May, bemoans nan diminution of American kids' activity and beingness fittingness levels, rising rates of obesity and what he calls nan "childhood chronic illness crisis."

Trump's bid adds different furniture of urgency, saying that Americans' beingness wellbeing is successful decline, and is simply a "threat to nan vitality and longevity of our country," particularly connected nan eve of 2026 — America's 250th day and nan twelvemonth it's group to big nan FIFA World Cup.

"Rates of obesity, chronic disease, inactivity, and mediocre nutrition are astatine situation levels, peculiarly among our children," nan bid reads. "These trends weaken our economy, subject readiness, world performance, and nationalist morale."

Leaders made a akin statement astir patriotism erstwhile nan original trial was introduced successful nan Cold War era. But nan trends cited by nan Trump management person only worsened since then. So experts and educators show NPR they are exercising be aware erstwhile it comes to their hopes for a revamped version.

Joanna Faerber, a beingness acquisition coach moving pinch agrarian Louisiana schools connected national grants, says Trump's announcement drew a passionately divided consequence successful her master network.

"We each work together that puerility obesity and deficiency of beingness activity and beingness acquisition successful schoolhouse is limited," she said. "I deliberation measuring it is nan question."

How did nan trial travel about?

In this 1955 photo, Bonnie Prudden helps a student pinch sit-ups successful nan Kraus-Weber trial — nan precursor to nan Presidential Fitness Test. Orlando/Getty Images/Hulton Archive hide caption

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Orlando/Getty Images/Hulton Archive

Pioneering orthopedic surgeon Hans Kraus — now recognized arsenic nan "father of sports medicine" successful nan U.S. — worked pinch different doctor, Sonja Weber, successful nan 1940s to create nan Kraus-Weber test. They designed nan trial to measure fittingness done sit-ups and different exercises focused connected halfway spot and flexibility.

In nan 1950s, Kraus and his chap fittingness enthusiast Bonnie Prudden group astir administering nan trial to thousands of schoolchildren successful nan U.S., Italy, Switzerland and Austria. The researchers found that 58% of American kids grounded astatine slightest 1 constituent of nan six-part test, compared to conscionable 8.7% of Europeans.

"We person nary wish to alteration nan modular of surviving by trying to do distant pinch nan automobile and television," Kraus said, presenting their activity to a White House gathering successful 1955. "But we must make judge that we dress up for this nonaccomplishment of beingness activity."

Their findings — which Sports Illustrated astatine nan clip called "The Report That Shocked nan President" — spurred President Dwight Eisenhower to bid nan creation of nan President's Council connected Youth Fitness successful 1956. (That's nan aforesaid assembly that Trump reestablished successful this week's order.) The pursuing year, nan assembly piloted its ain nationalist fittingness test.

President John F. Kennedy built connected Eisenhower's momentum, launching a nationwide nationalist work run encouraging Americans to return nan 50-mile hikes erstwhile required of U.S. Marines. Kennedy was a beardown advocator of beingness fitness, penning an influential Sports Illustrated effort to that effect — titled "The Soft American" — arsenic president-elect successful 1960. Trump referenced nan effort successful his executive order, and RFK Jr. talked astir it astatine nan signing ceremony.

"He was lamenting nan truth that America had prided itself connected a beef jerky toughness, and that … we were falling down Europeans, we were falling down different nations," Kennedy said of his uncle.

The 3rd loop of nan assembly nether President Lyndon B. Johnson formalized nan fittingness trial successful 1966, and added nan constituent of an grant for apical performers.

From there, nan trial became a fixture of American P.E. classes, though its components did germinate complete nan decades. For example, it ditched the softball throw, which came to beryllium seen arsenic much of a accomplishment (for grenade-wielding soldiers) than a measurement of fitness.

"I deliberation it was instilled to effort to get group backmost successful nan '60s fresh to participate into nan equipped forces and get them fresh for battle," Laura Richardson, a objective subordinate professor successful nan School of Kinesiology astatine nan University of Michigan, told NPR. "And past arsenic clip evolved, they said, 'We request to alteration this.'"

Why did nan trial spell away?

Over nan decades, nan beingness fittingness trial drew expanding disapproval for its antagonistic effect connected intelligence health. Many students recovered it an exercise successful humiliation successful beforehand of their peers, fueling concerns astir assemblage image from a young age.

Critics besides doubted nan test's effectiveness, saying its task-specific, one-size-fits-all quality was not conducive to making individual advancement towards a healthier lifestyle. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows that nan big obesity complaint roseate from astir 13% successful 1960 to astir 34% successful 2008, during nan unsmooth model nan trial was successful effect.

The Obama management phased retired nan fittingness trial aft nan 2012-2013 schoolhouse year, replacing it pinch nan Presidential Youth Fitness Program. The voluntary programme provides resources to schools for assessing and recognizing younker fitness, shifting its emphasis from athleticism to wide health.

Many schools do that utilizing nan FitnessGram Assessment, which was developed by nan Kenneth H. Cooper Institute astatine Texas Tech University and evaluates criteria for illustration aerobic capacity, flexibility, assemblage creation and muscular strength.

While specifics astir Trump's revamped Presidential Fitness Test are still scarce, nan educators NPR said pinch dream it will proceed to prioritize that benignant of health-related fittingness complete circumstantial skills.

They would for illustration to spot nan trial see robust resources for nan teachers who will beryllium implementing and collecting information from it. And they dream that it will alteration schools to walk much clip allowing and encouraging kids to beryllium progressive — not conscionable to hole for nan test, but to shape lifelong habits.

"A fittingness appraisal is conscionable to fto you cognize wherever you are," Faerber said. "It's not nan end. It's nan opening of changing."

Ricardson says it will apt return years to spot whether nan caller trial is working, because of nan magnitude of individual and population-level information required. And, she notes, fittingness is conscionable 1 avenue for addressing puerility obesity, on pinch things for illustration nutrition, slumber and stress.

"I deliberation nan biggest point is that correct now we person kid fittingness astatine nan forefront," she adds. "And that is what we request to beryllium focusing on: How do we thief kids get to wherever we want them to be, little astir nan trial and much astir really we get them there."