I said that because men in England train like idiots doing crunches and tricep kickbacks all day and can't squat to save their life.
Americans on the whole have a far better idea of how to train than us

DB curls in the squat rack? - yep, happens all the time in my gym, I've even seen a woman move a bosu ball into the squat rack to do crunches

Yea i know what you mean. SO many people in my gym are doing curls, kickbacks, all this isolation work. Also WHEN i see someone squat they dont even go parallel. More like 1/4 way down.

It pisses me off because they think they are using more weight than me yet i go 4 times the distance they go down. Also some think diet is all about protein and thats it.

Most of my gym are only big because they are on some form of steroid.

I've been at my new gym for about 6 months now and i have not seen one person do a single squat...Including myself

Why arent you doing them?

The squat rack at my gym it almost always available. Iv hardly seen anybody deadlift either.

I rarely see any deads, squats, at my gym. But you can bet your balls all the benches will be occupied! I think it's probably like this at every single gym.

The one I see all the time that cracks me up is homey using the smith machine to bench, like this is a good idea for anyone. It's quite the fad at the Y I'm training at now.

These dudes will do anything to "lift more weight".

I hear ya both ^^

Smith machines are widely used in my gym. Also you can bet the benches are always taken!

True dat is. I think its due to ignorance as any decent resource on fitness will stress the importance of FBW as opposed to useless isolation or benching every time they are in the gym. If someone was living in a cave with no access to the outside world then you might understand.

Thoze exersizez d0nt pump da gunz tho.

It's great. No matter how crowded the gym is, one of the squat or power racks is always open. There are only 4 and if more than 1 is taken it's unusual. All 4 have never once been occupied, and I'm there all the time. It's mostly a meet market.

My gym is straight muscle, squats deadlifts etc are the main exercises. I think this is because it is a smallish gym and all the trainers are power lifters so the people who get programs written for them dont have a choice in the matter.

Well there's a few reasons.

Firstly i'm just very bad at squatting to begin with and i have a hard time keeping my back in the correct position when doing them. I've only ever done squats at TAFE, in class, partnered up with someone to spot me. I don't have the confidence to do them by myself.

Secondly, if this counts as an excuse...the gym that i go to is pretty small and more often than not there's either a person using the barbell (we only have one) or there just simply isn't enough room...Well actually there is enough room, but i like my space and hate crowded areas, least of all in the gym. We have a lot of pre-set barbells, but there is only one where you can take plates on and off and adjust the weight.

And lastly, for my goals, squats don't have a whole lot of use - From a bodybuilding sense, i'm happy with the way i look and the way my body performs and functions. I more or less go to the gym now because "it's better than sitting on the couch"...I'm looking to start playing sport again very soon so that i have some motivation in the gym instead of just going out of habit. For now, i'm happy with leg presses, lunges, hamstring curls and leg extensions as a part of my legs.

It's funny because at my gym the majority of the time the benches are free and the squat racks are usually taken.....maybe people are starting to get smarter.....

Although to be fair you see dead's maybe once a week from someone else and all the time 50 percent of the guys there are doing some form of bicep curl.......

Funniest thing I see at my gym (and Snewsome can back me up on this) is these two very skinny guys (130lbs on a good day) who come in about 30 mins before close every night. I have never seen them do anything bar bicep curls in the year they've been coming to the gym....i'm not talking tht they do it alot...i'm saying it is all they ever do...makes me laugh because they are still as skinny as they were when they started...i guess at least they have good committment

no, america at least the part that I live in trains similarly.
the so called "personal trainers" at my gym have told me that squats are bad for you and tell 60 year old obese men to do tricep kickbacks to cut that fat...
now i've volunteered there, like volunteered to spend my time without pay to help people and **** (not a totally philanthropic exercise, i want to put it on my resume for college) because i have lost over 50 lbs. in less than a year and kno a thing or two about lifting/weight loss. but no one even bothered to call me back.
One of the most inefficient and unknowledgable gyms in the state declined free volunteers? ok.

That is stupid, you should start calling some of those chumps out.