Pete Hegseth trails behind female Marine and drops out of pull-up challenge during San Diego troops workout

From the Newshound archive · first published 8 October 2026 · last updated 9 October 2026.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has demanded mandatory testosterone screening for service members over 30 and vowed to build a military "warrior ethos", was left gasping for breath and visibly trailing behind his own troops during a training session with US Marines in San Diego on Wednesday. Footage broadcast on C-SPAN captured him well behind runners on a track, with a female Marine blazing past him, before he appeared to bail out of a pull-up challenge at the last moment, instead high-fiving passing troops while leaning on the bar in exhaustion. The viral clips drew a torrent of online mockery, with commenters branding him a "clown" and joking he showed "low T", a dig at his own testosterone testing crusade.

Hegseth, 46, was in San Diego to greet the USS Abraham Lincoln crew after their 264-day deployment.

Jimmy Kimmel dubbed him 'our secretary of war and styling mousse' and 'Pretty Pete' on his late-night show.

Online critics coined the nickname 'Secretary of Cardio' after the footage circulated widely.