This reminds me of some MMO players reaction when they realize they have been minmaxing their build wrong. Having a large normative population behaving in self-evidence reporting and response is NOT a guaranteed path to the most efficient route. Especially so when the feedback loop is months and the input loop is 3 times weekly.
For instance, the groupthink meta will optimize for time/schedule efficiency, for social dynamics, for all kinds of things which aren't muscle gain per second.
I’ve experienced a lot of this phenomenon since I bought a power rack for my living room and slowly expanded my home gym to include fixed and adjustable dumbbells, MonkeyFeet, ez-curl bar, etc.
All of the online discussion and experimentation revolve around time limited gym workouts that make no sense when I can do a few sets a dozen times a day while taking breaks away from the desk, in between downtime while cooking or doing other chores, or while listening to teleconference meetings.
For instance, the groupthink meta will optimize for time/schedule efficiency, for social dynamics, for all kinds of things which aren't muscle gain per second.