When a video of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. knocking out pull-ups and push-ups in jeans went viral, the internet couldn’t quite believe what it was seeing. Why would the Health and Human Services Secretary be pumping out reps in denim — and at the Pentagon, no less?
The footage, filmed as part of the “Pete and Bobby Challenge”, showed Kennedy, 71, training alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth inside the Pentagon’s fitness facility in Arlington, Virginia — directly across the Potomac River from Washington D.C.
The challenge, part of the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) initiative, saw the pair complete 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups in under ten minutes to encourage a fitter, healthier America, PEOPLE reports.
“It’s all about making America healthy again. We’re gonna be fit, not fat,” said Hegseth in the video. “We want recruits that are ready to go.”
“Pete and I are going to do our part to encourage American youth to do this challenge,” Kennedy added.
But while Hegseth was dressed like any other gym-goer — shorts and a T-shirt — Kennedy’s denim-heavy look stole the show. And the internet had questions.
One user commented: “Why is RFK Jr doing pull-ups and push-ups in jeans?” Another added: “RFK Jr. working out in jeans and a belt is absolutely diabolical.” A third joked: “Do you think RFK has workout jeans and casual jeans, or he just freeballs and takes his musk with him everywhere?”
And it’s certainly not the first time RFK Jr. has been seen working out in jeans.
Even Fox News host Jesse Watters couldn’t resist asking the question that, apparently, everyone wanted answered.
“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is here. Mr Secretary, thank you so much for joining us. Before we get started, I have to ask a question that everybody is wondering about. Why do you wear jeans when you workout?” Watters asked on Jesse Watters Primetime.
“Well, I just started doing that a long time ago because I would go hiking in the morning and then I’d go straight to the gym, and I found it was convenient, and now I’m used to it, so I just do it,” he said.
Watters’ reaction? “Okay. There are a lot of theories but that makes perfect sense.”
And with that, the mystery of RFK Jr.’s workout wardrobe was (sort of) solved — even if the explanation did little to settle the internet’s collective disbelief.
This isn’t the first time Kennedy’s unorthodox fitness gear has raised eyebrows. In fact, his “jeans at the gym” habit has been around for years.
Back in June 2023, while still running for president as a Democrat, Kennedy shared a video of himself doing push-ups — shirtless, in jeans — captioned: “Getting in shape for my debates with President Biden! And yes, I can do more than 10 push-ups. That was my last set.”
Later that year, ahead of his confirmation hearings to become Health and Human Services Secretary, he posted another shirtless gym clip — still wearing jeans — telling followers he was “practicing moves for my confirmation hearing.”
That hearing, held on December 1, 2024, was just as controversial as his wardrobe. Despite pushback from cousin Caroline Kennedy, who called him “unfit to serve in Trump’s Cabinet,” he was narrowly confirmed by the Senate on February 13.
Now, as head of the HHS, Kennedy has become one of the loudest voices behind the Make America Healthy Again movement — a public health campaign echoing Donald Trump’s “MAGA” slogan. It focuses on everything from reducing artificial additives in food to rethinking childhood vaccination policies.
The “Pete and Bobby Challenge” was designed as a public show of fitness leadership — and perhaps a not-so-subtle recruitment push. The video, published by the Department of Defense, shows Kennedy and Hegseth completing the challenge in under six minutes.
Kennedy even went further, calling on other cabinet members to join in. “We’re calling on our friend @SecDuffy to take the challenge,” he tweeted, while Hegseth threw down the gauntlet to Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine and Will Cain, his former Fox colleague.
“We hope Americans will take this challenge and you’ll pass it along so that we’re ready to be fit the way we need to be healthy and to have a healthy fighting force,” said Hegseth.
Convenient, maybe. Comfortable? Debatable. But as far as Kennedy’s concerned, it’s just another day’s workout — denim and all.
Featured image credit: X/RobertKennedyJr (screenshot)
