I was curious about this and observed others, and found nobody else does. Meh. I wouldn't say "never" do that. I've made friends from talking to people at the

I was curious about this and observed others, and found nobody else does. Meh. I wouldn't say "never" do that. I've made friends from talking to people at the gym, but there's an etiquette to it. And it's not something you can force, IME. But if somebody is doing heavy deadlifts (for example) and you likewise do a lot of deadlifting, and the two of you are among a small group of people who do that (which is common at many commercial gyms) you might well find yourselves striking up a conversation. It could be a simple as "Hey man, I saw you pulling some heavy deads. Do you compete, or you just lift for your own satisfaction, or what?" And a simple thing like that often leads to a conversation and the beginnings of an acquaintanceship and maybe eventually real friendship. That said, I wouldn't go to the gym for the purpose of "meeting people." I'd go because I genuinely wanted to work out and get fit, and look at those chance connections as something that might or might not happen.