Promoting Physical Activity for Americans Act

A Brief History of the Physical Activity Guidelines

While many Americans are familiar with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, far fewer realize that the federal government also publishes Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

The first Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans were released by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2008 following an extensive scientific review of the relationship between physical activity and health. For the first time, the federal government established evidence-based recommendations for the amount and types of physical activity Americans should engage in to improve health and reduce disease risk.

HHS released the second edition of the guidelines in 2018, incorporating significant advances in scientific research and expanding recommendations across populations, age groups, and health conditions. For adults to stay healthy, the 2018 guidelines state that at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity and muscle-strengthening activity at least 2 days a week is necessary.

Today, the Physical Activity Guidelines serve as the nation’s primary evidence-based framework for physical activity promotion and inform public health programs, research priorities, educational efforts, healthcare recommendations, and prevention strategies throughout the country. Yet unlike the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, there is currently no statutory requirement ensuring the guidelines will continue to be updated and maintained on a regular schedule.

A Global Framework for Physical Activity Leadership

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans not only guide domestic public health efforts, but also shape physical activity policy around the world.

Historically, the World Health Organization (WHO) has aligned many of its global physical activity recommendations with the scientific evidence reviews and guidance developed through HHS. The WHO’s most recent guidelines, released in 2020, closely mirrored the evidence-based principles reflected in the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

Establishing a statutory framework for regularly updating the Physical Activity Guidelines helps ensure the United States continues to lead internationally on physical activity policy, prevention science, and evidence-based health promotion. At a time when chronic disease, obesity, physical inactivity, and healthy aging are global challenges, maintaining American leadership in physical activity science has never been more important.

Why Updating the Guidelines Matters More Than Ever

The last edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines was released in 2018. While the science supporting physical activity is stronger than ever, the health landscape facing Americans has changed dramatically in just a few short years.

Perhaps the most significant development has been the rapid growth of anti-obesity medications (AOMs), including GLP-1 therapies. Millions of Americans are now using these medications as part of their weight management journey, creating an entirely new conversation about how medical interventions and lifestyle interventions work together.

Research increasingly demonstrates that physical activity remains essential for individuals using anti-obesity medications. Exercise helps preserve lean muscle mass, supports metabolic health, improves functional capacity, and contributes to long-term weight maintenance and overall health outcomes.

Recognizing the importance of this emerging area, the Health & Fitness Association has commissioned new research analysing the impact of structured exercise when combined with AOMs, not only in terms of individual health outcomes but also economic and societal savings. The research, which will be unveiled during the 2026 HFA Advocacy Summit, quantifies how combining GLP-1 therapy with structured exercise help patients sustain their progress, improve long-term health, and reduce downstream healthcare costs. As the use of these medications continues to expand, policymakers and payers should want to protect the investment being made in AOMs by ensuring patients have access to structured physical activity that can help maximize long-term health and economic value.

Future editions of the Physical Activity Guidelines should reflect this evolving evidence and provide clearer recommendations on how physical activity can complement medical obesity treatments to help individuals achieve the best possible outcomes.

At the same time, growing scientific evidence has elevated the importance of strength training and resistance exercise as critical components of healthy aging, disease prevention, and long-term physical function.

Historically, public discussion around physical activity has often focused on aerobic exercise. Today, however, there is greater recognition that maintaining and building muscle strength is equally important. Strength training supports mobility, balance, metabolic health, injury prevention, bone density, independence as individuals age, and overall quality of life. It is also increasingly recognized as an important strategy for preserving muscle mass among individuals using anti-obesity medications.

As America continues to age and the use of anti-obesity medications expands, future Physical Activity Guidelines should place greater emphasis on strength training, functional fitness, resistance exercise, and lifelong physical resilience.

The way Americans engage with physical activity is evolving as well. Wearable technologies, connected fitness platforms, digital coaching tools, artificial intelligence, and personalized health applications are creating new pathways for participation that were far less developed when the current guidelines were released in 2018.

Regular updates to the Physical Activity Guidelines ensure that federal recommendations can continue to reflect the latest science, emerging technologies, changing population health trends, and evolving approaches to prevention. Just as importantly, they help maintain America’s leadership role in shaping global physical activity policy and ensure future recommendations remain relevant to the realities facing modern populations.

Why the Promoting Physical Activity for Americans Act Matters

The Promoting Physical Activity for Americans Act would establish a statutory requirement for HHS to publish Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans on a recurring ten-year cycle. This would help ensure that physical activity remains a consistent and enduring component of the nation’s prevention strategy.

At first glance, this may appear to be a technical policy change. In reality, it represents an important step toward modernizing how the federal government approaches prevention.

For decades, the federal government has institutionalized nutrition policy through the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Those guidelines help shape public health programs, education initiatives, research priorities, and long-term policy development. Physical activity deserves the same level of sustained federal attention and commitment.

Importantly, this legislation is not about producing another government report.

It is about creating continuity across administrations, strengthening implementation efforts, improving coordination across federal agencies, and embedding physical activity more deeply into the nation’s prevention infrastructure.

Just as importantly, it ensures future recommendations can evolve alongside changing science and emerging health challenges. Whether addressing the role of physical activity in conjunction with anti-obesity medications, advancing recommendations related to strength training and healthy aging, or integrating new evidence around technology-enabled wellness, a predictable update cycle helps ensure federal policy remains relevant and evidence-based.

The Industry’s Role in Prevention

For the health and fitness industry, this issue extends well beyond business interests.

In 2025, 81 million Americans belonged to a fitness facility and more than 100 million Americans exercised nearly seven billion times at gyms, health clubs, and studios. Together, these facilities represent a significant prevention infrastructure that helps Americans build healthier habits, improve health outcomes, and engage in long-term wellness.

Recent HFA research adds to the extensive body of evidence that demonstrates the impact of that engagement. Compared to Americans who don’t use fitness facilities, members are twice as likely to meet or exceed recommended weekly physical activity guidelines. Members are also seven times less likely to report no measurable physical activity during a typical week.. These differences highlight the important role community-based fitness facilities play in helping Americans become and remain active.

Yet despite overwhelming evidence supporting the benefits of physical activity, federal policy has not fully aligned around increasing participation as a national priority.

The Promoting Physical Activity for Americans Act represents an opportunity to begin closing that gap.

By creating a permanent framework for updating and maintaining Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, Congress can help ensure physical activity remains central to national conversations around prevention, healthy aging, chronic disease reduction, workforce health, military readiness, and long-term healthcare sustainability.

If physical activity is essential to improving health outcomes and reducing healthcare costs, federal policy should treat it that way.

At the 2026 HFA Fly-In and Advocacy Summit, industry leaders will meet with members of Congress to encourage support for the Promoting Physical Activity for Americans Act and reinforce a broader message: Congress does not need to invent a new prevention system. Much of the infrastructure already exists.

The health and fitness industry is ready to help scale prevention nationally. Physical activity must move from recommendation to implementation.