Barry Boyd’s heart starts pumping faster with every obstacle he approaches on American Ninja Warrior. Boyd, who recently moved from Powhatan to Chesterfield, has been competing on the popular NBC series since 2023.
“I was super excited but super nervous,” he says of his first time in front of the cameras. “When I hit the buzzer [at the end of the course], I felt like all my hard work had paid off. It’s such a great feeling. My wife, kids and my mom were there to celebrate with me.”
Boyd, who grew up in Philadelphia and lived in Pittsburgh before moving to the Richmond area, started exercising seriously in college. The stay-at-home dad now trains at RVA Iron Gym and Midlothian Athletic Center.
“The best part of fitness is doing it with the whole family,” he says.
A longtime fan of American Ninja Warrior, Boyd applied for the show 10 years in a row before getting on in 2023. That year, he conquered the qualifying course and the semi-finals, making it to the finals.
“I did pretty well,” he says. “I ended up falling on the Jumping Spider [contestants jump from a trampoline and have to hold themselves up while moving across two angled walls] in Stage One.”
Each year when he leaves the competition, he knows there is no guarantee he will be asked to compete next year. “You apply every year,” he says. “You hope to do well enough and the audience likes you well enough to get invited back.”
In this year’s competition, he has made it to the semifinals even though he fell on the second-to-last obstacle in the first round. Right now as he heads to the semifinals, he is focused on doing his best.
In addition to the man-made obstacles on the course, he, like other Ninjas, will have to compete against very energetic and capable teens, many of whom are breaking records on the course.
“I will be competing against 15 and 16 year olds,” says Boyd, 29. “I watch them run, and it’s so cool. It never looks like they run out of energy. They are so fast and so quick. They push me to be better.”
With that in mind, Boyd decided to train with teenagers. “It’s tough to keep up with them, but they are inspiring. Watching some of the power they have being that young is amazing. Being a gym rat and working out, I felt like I was strong. . . but teenagers they are strong,” he says.
While competing on the show is an annual goal, Boyd’s greater goal is to be a great parent.
“I love being a stay-at-home dad and hanging out with the kids,” he says, adding that he’s slowly teaching his boys, ages two and four, to do Ninja. “The four year old does two pull ups and my younger son is in the hanging stage. He tries to pull up, but he’s not there yet.”
Boyd is passionate about the sport because it’s an endeavor he can share with his family and with others. He hopes to open a Ninja gym in the future.
“I would like to bring Ninja to this part of Virginia. Everybody needs Ninja,” he says. “It’s a unique sport. It’s a solo sport but there is a community rooting for everyone. We all train together, and we hang out together. If one person wins, everybody wins. It brings people together. A lot of the close friends I have are from the show.”
While the goal each year is to win American Ninja Warrior, Boyd simply enjoys the experience. “Once I get the call, I feel like I’ve won,” he says. “Being on the show is the reward for me.”
