SecDef / X
Audio By Carbonatix
There is a new fitness challenge that has exploded in popularity in recent days and it comes from the highest levels of the government. The ‘Pete & Bobby Challenge‘ is a new fitness challenge from U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and U.S. Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
During a recent segment on Fox News with Jesse Waters, a follow-up to a post by Sec. Hegseth, RFK Jr. says the goal of the Pete & Bobby Challenge is to be “fit, not fat.”
What Is The Pete & Bobby Challenge Exactly?
“Fit, not fat’ is an interesting way to phrase the challenge which is, ultimately, very limited in scope. The Pete & Bobby Challenge consists of doing 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups in under 10 minutes.
During a visit to a gym in the bowels of the Pentagon, the U.S. Secretaries discussed the challenge, completed it themselves, and Hegseth talked about the records he has seen so far.
The challenge stipulates that the 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups be completed in under 10 minutes. But obviously, everything in the fitness world is competitive and completing it as quickly as possible is a badge of honor.
On Jesse Waters’ segment, 45-year-old Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth completed the Pete & Bobby Challenge in 5 minutes and 25 seconds. 71-year-old RFK Jr., completed the eponymous viral fitness challenge 5 minutes and 48 seconds.
Of course, once you see them doing pull-ups it is obvious there were some liberties taken on form…
At 71-years-old, it is impressive that RFK Jr. is able to bust out so many push-ups and pull-ups in under 60 seconds.
The segment was framed around why RFK Jr. wears jeans to the gym. His answer was that he started going after hiking, or activities where he was already wearing jeans, so it became a habit. No mystery behind it.
What about form…
If the goal of the Pete & Bobby Challenge is ‘fit, not fat’ then we have to address form.
Science-based bodybuilder and MacroFactor co-founder Jeff Nippard had something to say about how Hegseth and Kennedy are doing pull-ups. Nippard published a YouTube video 2 months ago of the upper body workout he has used for the past year to transform his body. That video is up to 3.2 million views already.
Jeff Nippard’s body transformation workout relied heavily on weighted pull-ups. And he is a professional bodybuilder. Suffice it to say, he knows what he is talking about.
On X, Nippard weighed in on the form of the two secretaries, he said “this is one of the worst (and most common) pull-up mistakes I see guys make: refusing assistance. It takes an ego check to use a pull-up machine, a band or a partner for assistance but serious lifters find it respectable. Acknowledge your current strength level and build from there.”
His feedback was in response to this portion of the clip:
Hegseth and RFK Jr. doing a pullup 🤣 pic.twitter.com/UZMkTQWYm6
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) August 18, 2025
Benchmarking the challenge…
The Pete & Bobby Challenge is now going viral. Just yesterday, I brought it up in our BroBible workspace and one of my colleagues mentioned a friend and trainer had done it that morning. He completed it last night in about 6:30 on his first try.
In that Fox News segment, Hegseth mentioned the record for a female Marine so far was 3 minutes and 46 seconds. While he’s heard of a male Marine doing the Pete & Bobby Challenge in 2 minutes and 40 seconds.
As far as we know, that is the benchmark to beat. I plan on attempting this tomorrow morning, but already know I’m going to struggle because I lifted upper body this morning and will need some recovery time after blasting my back, lats, chest, and shoulders. But I will report back once I complete the challenge.
Am I optimistic that I can beat the 71-year-old Kennedy’s time? Not necessarily. Push-ups and pull-ups are indicative of being ‘in shape’ by traditional standards but they are training very specific muscles.
I only just started incorporating weighted pull-ups into my upper body routine after seeing Jeff Nippard’s video a month ago. So I’ve got a few weeks to go before I will be comfortable pounding out 50 pull-ups in about ~90 seconds or less and give myself time to breeze through the push-ups. Again, I’ll report back once I have a time.