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Off-the-clock: Lifting weights, shattering records

Field Supervisor follows his competitive passion in the gym and at work.

As a nationally ranked college sprinter, Paul Gaines expected his professional life to revolve around the track.

But when a car crash on a rural Nebraska road ended his dreams and broke his back, Gaines entered the gym, lifting weights as part of his physical therapy recovery regimen.

Those weights, combined with Gaines’ competitive spirit, led him to a life filled with teamwork and camaraderie in the gym and as a field supervisor at Denver Water since 2023 — and multiple state, regional and national titles in the field of weightlifting.

Man stands near weights in a gym — Shown here before a workout, Gaines spends hours in a gym weekly with his teammates. Photo credit: Paul Gaines.

“I’m a competitive guy,” Gaines said with a big laugh. “I always want my team to be the best, whether we’re doing locates or if it’s my crew at the gym.”

At Denver Water, Gaines supervises a team tasked with finding and marking underground utilities, such as water, gas and fiber optic lines, in advance of construction work.

It’s work that requires attention to detail, patience and dedication. And it also requires determination and grit to get the job done correctly whatever the weather, be it a blazing hot summer day or a bitterly cold winter morning.

Those are the same skills and traits Gaines brings to the gym, where his commitment to success has led to him shattering multiple weightlifting records in three different weight classes.

Gaines competes in the masters division of weightlifting, a division dedicated to athletes over the age of 30. And over the last 15 years Gaines has successfully bench pressed, curled, squatted and dead lifted his way to multiple titles at the state, regional and national level — and done it in three different age brackets.

“I used to compete in everything except squats, but now because of joint pain, I only do bench press,” Gaines said.

In powerlifting competitions, the goal is straightforward: Lift as much weight as possible.

In October 2024, he broke a national record in power lifting, pressing 468 pounds. Because that competition wasn’t an official national meet, his feat wasn’t recognized until four months later, in February 2025 when he broke the record a second time — this time officially at a national competition.

On his own and unequipped, meaning he only uses wrist wraps and a weight belt, Gaines can bench press 487 pounds.

“When you’re equipped, you use a shirt that is basically a sling shot that helps push the weight back up,” Gaines said. “I don’t use it, but I could probably lift over 600 pounds if I used one.”

Gaines works out at a gym with a team of power lifters, spending one to two hours on heavy weights. Just one set could include 40 repetitions of arm curls or kickbacks with weights.

“With three or four people cycling through each set on a team, your muscles get to recover when the next person is up, so you can get that rest and be ready for your next set,” Gaines said.

Three men stand together — Gaines (at right) with his weightlifting teammates at the national competition in February 2025. After lifting together for almost two decades, the team is like a tight-knit family. Photo credit: Paul Gaines.

On average, Gaines can press 315 pounds over 20 times.

For comparison, for a National Football League tryout, a prospective player has to bench press 225 pounds as many times as possible, with the current record being 49 reps.

Gaines started lifting weights to stay in shape, often talking over lunch with his co-workers at a former job about his gym habits. Then, someone told him about a bench press competition — that was happening in two weeks.

Gaines decided to sign up.

“I had no idea how that first meet would go,” Gaines said. “My wife was working, so I showed up at the competition with our oldest daughter, who was just 4 years old at the time.”

Gaines found strong, family-like support within the weightlifting community at that first match.

Two weightlifting trophies on a table. — Gaines has won several weightlifting championships. Photo credit: Denver Water.

“Some women at the competition saw me with this little toddler and immediately said they’d help take care of her when I went to lift,” Gaines said.

And he clearly remembers the reaction of this newfound family as he fumbled during a lift at his first competition.

“I did an open-handed lift with 365 pounds on the bar,” Gaines said. “There were spotters there, but the bar rolled down my arms and hit my chest.”

Competitors crowded around to make sure the new guy was OK — and offer some friendly advice.

“They all started telling me, ‘You’ve got to close your hands!’ One of the organizers — the head of one of the power lifting clubs — he just muttered that he was ‘getting too old for this’ and walked away,” Gaines said.

Looking back, Gaines never thought that weightlifting would be such a huge part of his life.

A man holds two weightlifting trophies. — When he’s not working as a locates supervisor at Denver Water, Paul Gaines is a record-breaking weightlifter. He keeps some of his weightlifting trophies in his office at work, as a reminder of commitment and success on and off the job. Photo credit: Denver Water.

When he was in college in 1987, Gaines was a nationally ranked track sprinter, running for Doane College in Crete, Nebraska.

“At the time, I was ranked 10th in the nation in the 400-meter race, and I used to run against Michael Johnson, who went on to be a professional runner (and four-time Olympic gold medalist and eight-time World Champion). That’s where I thought I was headed too,” Gaines said.

But Gaines’ dreams of a professional running career ended in a rollover crash on a rural Nebraska road Memorial Day weekend in 1988.

Gaines and some of his teammates were driving back to school late at night at the end of the long three-day weekend.

“Everyone was tired, so we stopped at a rest area to sleep. I remember when the guy driving started the engine to get back on the road, because the dome light came on inside the car. Then I went back to sleep,” Gaines said.

Sometime later, the driver dozed off and the car veered off the road, flipping and rolling before coming to rest in a field.

Gaines, who had been sleeping in the front passenger’s seat, was thrown from the car. He woke up at 3 a.m., lying on his back in the field, looking up at the dark sky.

“I wasn’t wearing a seat belt, and that bad decision probably saved my life, because the top of the car came down on the seat and would have crushed me,” Gaines said.

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In an isolated rural area with no way to get to help, the friends got a lucky break.

“There was an old white guy on his way to work at the factory. He pulled up in his van after seeing these Black kids out in a field next to a crushed car,” Gaines said.

As the man checked everyone to make sure they were all right, he pointed to Gaines.

“I heard him say, ‘What about that guy? I think there’s something wrong with his back,’” Gaines said. “I realized he was talking about me.”

Afraid of doing more damage, the man didn’t want to move Gaines.

“I begged that man to please, please, not leave me out there in that field,” Gaines said. “I told him I trusted him, and that I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. He agreed to take us to the truck stop in town, where we were able to get help.”

Gaines broke his T5 vertebrae, part of his spine in his upper back between his shoulder blades, in the accident. The injury couldn’t be surgically repaired and Gaines had to start physical therapy to build up the muscles around the broken vertebrae in order to hold it in place.

“After the accident, I had to stop all impact sports to protect my back, including running. I started weightlifting through that physical therapy,” Gaines said.

A man in weightlifting gear looks past a curtain. — Moments before the lift where he broke a national record, Gaines takes a second to focus and mentally prepare. Determination, commitment and keeping a strong mental attitude has played a huge role in his weightlifting success. Photo credit: Paul Gaines.

As Gaines let go of his dream to run professionally, weights became his new passion.

Years later, Gaines set a goal he was going to bench press 405 pounds by his 40th birthday.

“The day I was going to press 405, I’m in the gym, look up and see my brother — who’s my biggest fan — wheeling our mom into the gym,” Gaines said. His father had passed away and his mother, who had a stroke, was in a wheelchair.

“When I was running, she always supported me. I would hear her in the stands yelling, ‘You can do it, baby!’” Gaines said. “When I saw her in the gym that day, I knew I had to get that goal — and I did it. The rest is history.”

Man holds a weightlifting trophy — In February 2025, Gaines broke a national weightlifting record, bench pressing almost 470 pounds in a competition. He plans to break his own record this year, with a goal to press 500 pounds. Photo credit: Paul Gaines.

Gaines is dedicated to the sport and his teammates — six people who lift with him. They call themselves the “Animal Kingdom.”

“When we’re in a gym, we’re loud,” Gaines said. “We just go around, tear it up and have fun in our workouts.

“We talk so much crap to each other, though if someone’s having a bad day, we talk it out. We laugh together, yell at each other and pray for each other. We’ve all been lifting together for 10-20 years, so it’s a family.”

Gaines’ current goal is to bench 500 pounds this year, breaking his own national record. He wants to hold the masters records for a few more years, but after that, he’s not sure what’s next.

With two teenage daughters, one of whom is a nationally ranked runner in the 400-meter — just like her dad was — Gaines often finds himself cheering and coaching from the stands, as his mom did for him.

“At some point, it will be time to move on,” Gaines said. “I love my job, I love my sports, and I love my beautiful family, so I’ll find plenty of things to do.”