Great thread.
I typically avoid gyms, but in the winter the wimp comes out and I go. Most things have already been discussed. I cannot lift anything impressive and I'm not trying to, but nothing like doing squats and watching some put 200 pound more than you on a bar and bench press it well for more than one rep.
I worked with a few guys in the Navy that I'm pretty sure did not juice and were just freaks of nature, physical big guys who could throw themselves around like a gymnest, I worked with more who did juice and were underwhelming in actual performance.
Had a rather pretty lady doing dumbbell rows or some such thing set up perfectly in front of the squat rack I was using, so if I looked forward I was staring at her backside, perhaps it was coincidence, but there was other open space and it felt very intentional. Last year she always showed up with makeup on. This year she looks more like she is showing up to exercise, no makeup and more comfortable clothes.
I keep to myself at the gym and don’t judge others, but the grunters drive me insane. There’s no bigger “look at me” move than making obnoxious noises while lifting weights that are too big.
I was in a place once were making noise would quickly be met with a barked out "suffer in silence," then in a gym with a lot of guys who made it through that (I was not one of them) there was this dude dead lifting about 350 and very loudly grunting and dropping the bar. Looked around and all thirty or so of them were snickering. Anyway, to this day lod grunters make me want to yell "suffer in silence."
My favorite is when people put the treadmill at a full incline then hang off the top of the panel...
Old guy next to me did this today. It is like the people who use poor form to move a weight to heavy for them, a form of self deception. It is amusing until they hurt themselves.
Also the people that talk to themselves are pretty awesome too. Every gym has them.
Given what I just wrote about suffering in silence, I will admit to talking to myself, usually calling myself derogatory names because I want to quit suffering rather than finish.
I always wonder about the people swinging a sledgehammer on a tractor tire. That's oddly specific conditioning. Unless you are getting in shape for wood splitting season, which, I don't think anyone who does this movement in the gym actually splits wood, what are they hoping to gain?
Never been a firefighter I take it. It is a poor man's Keiser sled. It will never impress anyone, but is a solid workout.