Our enemies are getting stronger. We’re getting softer. Do the math.
The kids push-ups China comparison should terrify every American. At 0445 this morning, while you were sleeping, I was reviewing declassified fitness data from American public schools. Essentially, the average American tenth-grader cannot complete ten consecutive push-ups with proper form.
Ten. Push-ups.
Meanwhile, in Shandong Province, Chinese students run five kilometers before breakfast. In Russian secondary schools, physical education includes hand-to-hand combat. However, we teach our kids that dodgeball is “too aggressive.”
The Kids Push-Ups China Gap Is A National Security Crisis
I’ve spent two decades studying how nations project power. Here’s what I know: strength respects strength. Weakness invites aggression. This isn’t opinion. Rather, this is history, repeated across every civilization that ever rose and fell.
Rome didn’t collapse because of barbarians. Instead, Rome collapsed because Romans stopped training like warriors. Consequently, the barbarians just walked in afterward.
We are Rome. And we can’t do push-ups.
The Numbers Behind Kids Push-Ups China Dominance
According to Department of Defense recruitment data, 71% of young Americans aged 17-24 cannot qualify for military service. The primary disqualifiers? Obesity and physical unfitness.
In 1960, President Kennedy launched the Presidential Fitness Program because he recognized soft bodies meant a soft nation. Back then, kids climbed ropes and ran timed miles. Furthermore, they did pull-ups until their arms gave out.
Those kids grew up to win the Cold War.
Today? Schools have eliminated fitness testing because it might damage self-esteem. Similarly, they’ve replaced climbing ropes with “inclusive movement activities.” (Speaking of national decline, my colleague Chet recently wrote about how high school coach discipline has disappeared—and what that’s costing us.)
What Our Adversaries Know About Kids Push-Ups
I speak regularly with intelligence professionals. Off the record. And I’ll tell you this: our adversaries have noticed.
They’re not planning to defeat America militarily. Not directly. Instead, they’re simply waiting for us to become too weak to resist. Too soft to fight. Too comfortable to sacrifice.
Every kid who can’t climb a rope is a future adult who can’t defend this nation. Additionally, every school that cancels physical education is a strategic gift to Beijing.
Harsh? Yes. True? Also yes.
The Path Forward
First, we need mandatory physical fitness standards in every school. Real standards. Pass-fail. Second, we must bring back push-ups, pull-ups, rope climbs, and distance runs. Most importantly, children need to learn that physical discomfort is not trauma—it’s training.
Our enemies lift weights while we lift participation trophies. They practice combat while we practice “inclusive movement.” They’re raising warriors while we’re raising kids who can’t do ten push-ups.
Until we change course, we’re not competing. We’re surrendering in slow motion.
And our adversaries are watching. I know, because I’m watching them watch.
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