Barbara Blount is not your typical 65-year-old woman.
Heck, she may not even be your typical 55-, or 45- or even 35-year-old woman.
But make no mistake, Barbara Blount is a badass.
Barbara, who trains at Omnis CrossFit in Little Rock, Arkansas, is the CrossFit Games Open Arkansas State Champion in the 65+ Age Group, finishing 100th world-wide and 86th in North America. And she credits it all to her coaches, her fellow Omnis athletes and her older sister, Nancy Steen, a CrossFit Games competitor herself.
In 2015, Barbara was on the floor with unbearable back pain.
“I hurt it so badly I was crawling on the floor, thinking I would never stand up and be good again,” Barbara said.
But that back pain, some motivation from her sister and the caring and attentive coaches and athletes at Omnis CrossFit have her thriving in life and the CrossFit space.
“I hate to say it, but it is fun,” Barbara says of why she continues to CrossFit. “When I am walking out of here after a workout, I’ve accomplished a lot.”
And it’s those hours in the gym alongside her fellow Omnis athletes that keeps her coming back for more.
“I’m not as competitive as a lot of people are...well, I kind of am,” she says with a laugh. “It pushes me to see what they can do. I know being 65 if I don’t keep moving and working, my upper body strength, my legs...you don’t use it, you lose it.”
Barbara was already an accomplished athlete before walking into Omnis four years ago. She was a member of the first women’s gymnastics team at Oklahoma State University and then taught gymnastics for 20 years in Blytheville, Arkansas.
That ability to coach and to be coaches has translated well as Barbara continues to chase excellence.
“Barbara is very humble and has no idea how awesome she is,” XXXX, a coach at Omnis said. “She doesn’t understand that what she is doing is really amazing. Not just for her age but for a CrossFitter in general. I wish she saw all the magic that she exudes in the gym. It’s really cool just to watch her.”
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