On Monday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., rolled out the “Pete and Bobby” fitness challenge. The goal is to complete 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups in under 10 minutes. The challenge is a response to President Trump’s executive order reestablishing the President’s Council on Sports and reinstating the Presidential Fitness Test for children (‘Usually Not My Thing’: President Trump Cracks Up Sports All-Stars With Comment About NFL Player – RedState).
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Just as the left responded with ridicule to the “Pete and Bobby Challenge,” I mean, the pencil-necked Adam Kinzinger took time out from shooting people on the rifle range to belittle their efforts, The New York Times had to get in on the act. In an article headlined “100 Push-Ups and 50 Pull-Ups in Under 10 Minutes. What Could Go Wrong? – The New York Times,” various alleged fitness gurus point out the danger of participating.
I’m not a licensed fitness trainer, but I spent a non-trivial portion of my adult life either working out or training others to pass grueling Army physical fitness challenges, so I’m pretty well-versed in how to train.
All of the comments elicited by The New York Times approach this as though it is some sort of graded event. It isn’t. It is, as the name states, a “challenge.” Hegseth says the purpose is to encourage physical fitness. It is not a “one and done” test.
“For the average person, I would definitely recommend building volume in these movements over three to four weeks before giving it a go,” [Dallin Pepper, a Utah-based athlete who is part of the World Fitness Project] said.
I think “Pete and Bobby” would agree with that, and having people add physical exercise into their lives is really what the Challenge is about.
“That is not how you do a qualified, correct pull-up in the military,” said Jess Hviid Skov, owner of the Frontline Box gym and a former sergeant in the Danish military.
When I want information on how to do a “qualified, correct pull-up in the military,” I always look to the army that held the Germans off for six whole hours. I’d be the first to agree that at a point, the style used by Pete and Bobby got ugly. That isn’t the point. When you attempt to push beyond your comfort level in strength exercises, form often suffers. Maybe you throw a bit of hip and back into that curl. In Basic Training, we improved pull-ups by allowing trainees to jump up, grip the bar, and lower themselves to a five-count repeatedly. Eventually, after you build muscular strength, you get the form right. But if you stop when you can no longer do perfect form, you will never get stronger. While I’m here, I’d like to do a Jen Psaki, circling back maneuver to Adam Kinzinger.
“In the military, underhand pull-ups, that’s what the girls are allowed to do. The guys do overhand. Pete is doing underhand. In an environment where alpha males rule and your image is everything, that was a pretty big violation.” @AdamKinzinger joins @Timodc: pic.twitter.com/TDjAstZAP3
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) August 20, 2025
“In the military, underhand pull-ups, that’s what the girls are allowed to do. The guys do overhand. Pete is doing underhand. In an environment where alpha males rule and your image is everything, that was a pretty big violation.”
Kinzinger knows, to paraphrase George C. Scott as General George S. Patton, as much about being an alpha male in the military as he does about straight sex (video cued for your enjoyment).
Here is a video of how to prepare for Ranger School.
It is entirely possible that Kinzinger believes these are all girls. That would explain a lot of things.
We have another guy insisting on a lot of prep before taking the challenge. Again, given that the purpose was to get people to engage in physical activity, that isn’t something that is against the Challenge. You prepare for challenges, right?
“Most people can’t even perform five strict push-ups with proper form, or a single pull-up, without compensating,” said Chris Smits, a personal trainer based in Toronto. “Pushing for such high numbers without the necessary strength foundation can quickly lead to poor form, overcompensation and a high risk of injury, including serious muscle strains or tears.”
I would agree with some of this, but in my experience, hurting yourself doing exercises that don’t involve significant weights or ballistic moves is really difficult. It can happen. That said, if you follow the “start off slow, then ease up” school of physical fitness, you are headed for failure because most people will not sustain a workout program unless they perceive progress as measured by weight and reps. I’d have a lot more concern if the Challenge were aerobic-based because people drop dead from overstressing their cardiovascular system all the time.
What Hegseth and Kennedy are doing should be commended, not picked at. If you are really out of shape, you are unlikely to be able to go beyond a safe threshold, particularly in push-ups and pull-ups. Instead of encouraging Americans to work up to the Challenge, The New York Times would rather score Resistance points by convincing Americans that improving oneself is impossible. So you should just stay on the sofa with the 64-ounce soda and a bag of Oreos and accept the inevitable.
