I tried to look up the gym nearby, to figure out if I could expect to find someone there who could explain why I keep hurting myself doing squats without being a creep. All I could find was a Topix thread that's mostly
1) people asking if the gym is gay (bad), and
2) people asking if the gym sells steroids (good).
Nobody answered the steroids question, but the gym is probably not gay, though the guy who owns it does have big pictures of himself flexing up on the walls. That definitely answered all my questions, thank you Topix.