The current National Initial Standards for Physical Education Teacher Education state that preservice teachers should achieve and maintain a level of health-related fitness consistent with that expected of K12 learners. However, little research has addressed the relevance of teacher fitness to effective physical education teaching. This study examined the relationship between teacher fitness and movement competence, based on the important role of motor competence in performing effective demonstrations of movement skills to learners. Preservice teachers (N = 115) were tested on their muscular strength/endurance, flexibility, body composition, and several gymnastics skills. Gymnastics performance was directly and significantly correlated with muscular strength/endurance after controlling for previous gymnastics experience. Regression analysis showed that curl-up scores predicted the most variance (7%) in gymnastics performance. Male participants meeting established fitness standards had significantly higher gymnastics scores than male participants not meeting the standards. This study suggests preservice programs should carefully consider assessing and developing candidates' fitness.