President Trump Wants to Bring Back the Tortuous Presidential Fitness Test — Here's Why

For decades, children in the United States were tortured by something called the Presidential Fitness Test. It was created in 1956 by President Dwight Eisenhower, following the establishment of the President's Council on Youth Fitness. Its purpose was to study the physical health of American kids, but it mostly gave us complexes about our bodies and what they were capable of.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson thought it would be a good idea to make these tests competitive, so he decided to award all the kids who were in the 85th percentile on all seven test items. What a nightmare! It wasn't until 2012 that things took a turn for the better. President Obama shifted the focus to health education, thus ending the Presidential Fitness Program as we knew it. Sadly, President Trump, a man who probably couldn't pass a single one of these tests, wants to bring it back. Here's why.

President Trump announced his plan to bring the Presidential Fitness Test back during a press conference while flanked by various athletes, including WWE star Triple H, and Harrison Butker, the Kansas City Chiefs kicker who thinks women should focus on having kids, not careers. The president began by stating these men were the newest members of the Presidential Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. "This is an important step in our mission to Make America Healthy Again," said Trump.

The president was moments away from signing an executive order that directs the council to "develop strategies to improve America's physical fitness and renew the American spirit, excellence, and competitiveness, and sportsmanship." With that, he broke the awful news that the Presidential Fitness Test and the Presidential Fitness Award were back.

According to the executive order, bringing back the Presidential Fitness Test is supposed to foster a "new generation of healthy, active citizens." One part, however, does give us pause. Beyond emphasizing the importance of an active lifestyle and good nutrition, this is supposed to provide "military readiness." Why would children need to be military-ready? What a strange thing to include.

Over the years, the tests changed, but by the end, it consisted of a one-mile run, pull-ups or push-ups, sit-ups, a shuttle run, and sit-and-reach. By the way, if you think this didn't happen in front of your fellow classmates, yes, it did.

A couple of these tests might not be immediately familiar to some of you. The shuttle run involves sprinting back and forth between two points. This is meant to test speed, agility, and cardiovascular endurance. If you're over 40 right now, your knees can't handle this one. The sit-and-reach was a flexibility test wherein the student would place their feet against a wooden block and try to touch their toes. If you're over 40 right now, you should be stretching every day.