August 2025 was a busy time for the physical fitness displays of American politicians. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shared a weight-lifting video of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. After lifting weights, they challenged Americans to “get fit again” and undertake a 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups challenge.[1] New York City’s mayor-elect, Zoran Mamdani, also filmed himself bench pressing 135 pounds, and current Mayor Eric Adams responded with a bench press video of his own, lifting the same amount but ostensibly better.[2]

Performing these shirtless feats for public consumption seems not to be just about advocating wellness; they are also demonstrating readiness for their leadership roles and parading martial virtues, like courage and discipline.

Public displays of fitness by American politicians are nothing new. Presidents George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and Ulysses S. Grant, among others, were all depicted riding warhorses as symbols of “leadership and executive ability.”[3] America’s twenty-sixth president, Theodore Roosevelt, was renowned for his love of fisticuffs. He often asked professional boxers to strike him in the jaw, and then he would hit them back.[4]

President Ronald Reagan grew up playing football and swimming, and he was memorably photographed on horseback clearing a hurdle.[5] President Bill Clinton was often photographed jogging around Washington, D.C., to the chagrin of the Secret Service officers tasked with........

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