Regardless of whether your gym has an Olympic-size pool, it’s sure to have a great dating pool. And let’s face it: Unless you go there to sit outside the trampoline classes and stare at the leotarded (in which case … eww), you are at your buffest and best there. So don’t blow it with an opening line that’s so lame she shoots you down before you get anywhere near the part about her joining you for a smoothie and a protein bar.

Here are five common gym scenarios where you may find yourself weight belt to sports bra with a hot gymette. Follow this workout, and you might just meet a woman on your first set:

Location:

Stretching mats

Worst line:

“Wow, I see you’re really flexible. Are you a dancer?”

She thinks:

“‘Flexible?’ I know where your dirty mind is going with that, you perv.”

Best line:

“You seem like you know what you’re doing. Got any suggestions to stretch my hamstrings? They’re killing me – they’re so tight.”

The logic:

The second question seems more legitimate.

Location:

Water fountain

Worst line:

“Hey, leave some for the rest of us!”

She thinks:

“Wow, jerk. I’ve only heard that 50 million times.”

Best line:

“I swear, they really do manage to keep the water nice and cold here.”

The logic:

The first doesn’t leave her any way to respond if she does want to talk to you. The second one could be a conversation starter, plus it’s something everyone who’s parched might actually be thinking. (Of course, if the water’s a bit warm, you can comment on that instead -- though you might come across as a bit of a whiner.)

Location:

Free weights

Worst line:

“Need some help? You should hold it from this angle.”

She thinks:

“Just because I’m a girl using free weights, you assume I need help? You could use some help with your approach, tool.”

Best line:

“Damn -- 20 pounds. Not bad!”

The logic:

At last, an honest compliment from one fellow gym rat to another. That you noticed makes her feel strong.

Location:

The weights (machine or free). The situation: resting between sets

Worst line:

“I love this song,” referring to the music playing. Alternative: “Who’s winning?” referring to the game on TV.

She thinks:

“I’m wearing an iPod, dummy. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Best line:

“Do you mind if I work in?”

The logic:

This is the only direct question that makes any sense here. Any other directive breaks the gym cardinal rule, “Thou shalt never interrupt someone’s flow with an irrelevant question” (unless she’s screaming, “Drop dead, ref!” at the TV -- then, by all means, comment on the score).

Location:

At the bikes, treadmill, Stairmaster or elliptical

Worst line:

“Can I buy you a drink when we get there?”

She thinks:

“Aren’t you the same guy who used that stupid water fountain line before?”

Best line:

“Ugh cardio, it always feels so good to get it over with.”

The logic:

It doesn’t mean you love or hate cardio; it’s just a general feeling about how good it feels to be able to check it off your list. If she wants to add to your comment, she can; otherwise, you give her the out of just panting and nodding yes in agreement.

In case you haven’t figured it out after all this, when it comes to meeting women at the gym, the best lines don’t make a girl feel trapped -- or obligated to answer you. They also let you save face in case her boyfriend is the huge power lifter giving you the evil eye across the room.

The Summer Olympics may come only once every four years, but the (tiki) torch lighting of your own Beach Olympics can happen any time -- as long as you’ve got sand, water, a volleyball net, a plastic flying disc and that age-old desire to pummel your buddies in contests of strength and stamina.

“Competing in events and being out on the beach brings out the inner athlete in everyone,” says Michelle Knight, co-owner of Adventures by the Sea, a Monterey, Calif.-based adventure-planning outfit.

Organizing tip No. 1: Limit your olympiad to a couple of hours at most so energy won’t drop and tempers won’t rise. Tip No. 2: Plan the individual events carefully.

“Choose games that will really appeal to everyone and match your group’s fitness level,” says Cynthia Shon, president of Bay Area, Calif.-based Corporate Games, an organization that helps companies foster team building among employees. “Remember that running around on sand is not easy.”

The events below -- picked by our dream team of athletic contest-organizing experts -- should ease your burden. And heck, most of these will work in a grassy park if there’s no beach around. What to use for gold medals is up to you.

Beach Volleyball
This is the one must-do contest in any Beach Olympics. Anyone who’s ever taken gym class already knows how to play. And thanks to the sand, taking a heroic dive for the ball will make you look like a stud without scraping or bruising. Traditional volleyball rules work great, but if you’ve got eight or more people, Kevin Vander Vliet, owner of Team Building California suggests this variation: Create four teams and set up four nets connecting at 90-degree angles in the center. (So the nets form an X.) If the ball’s served to you, you can hit it across to any of the other three teams. Normal rules for serves and point scoring apply. “It’s a lot of fun because if you have one team that’s really good, the others can gang up to beat them,” says Vander Vliet.
Official rules: Volleyball.com/rules.aspx

Sand Ultimate
This is another easy-to-organize, fun-to-play favorite. But when you’re on sand, the going is too slow for people to be sprinting all around the playing area, like in typical Ultimate. So Shon applies slightly different rules. “We mark off assigned boxes where one person from each team stays. That way there’s less running but people are still diving for the frisbee,” she says.
Official rules: UltimateHandbook.com

Flying Disc Golf
It’s adaptable to the terrain of just about any beach and easy to set up. If you’re using teams, then play by “scramble” rules like in real golf. Here’s how it goes: Everyone tees off. Choose whose throw on your team was the best, and then you and all your teammates take your second shot from where that disc landed. Repeat until reaching the end of the hole. “There’s great team interaction. There are always some people who have rarely, if ever, thrown a frisbee, and the other team members really get into teaching and helping them,” says Knight.
Official rules: Pdga.com/rules

Tug of War
This one needs little explaining. You can buy a thick rope made especially for the sport at FlagHouse.com. If you’re really ambitious, you can dig a shallow “pit of shame” for the losers to fall into.

Balloon Launch
A surprise favorite among the experts, chosen because it involves strength, aim and luck -- and requires the kind of open space a beach provides. You’ll need a three-person balloon launcher. (There’s one available at Amazon.com.) Then, instead of the hassle of filling up balloons, use foam balls (available at sporting goods stores) and soak them in water before you shoot. Points can be scored based on distance or for hitting specific targets.

Relay Race
This is the grueling grand finale -- much of what’s in it will be based on your imagination, as well as the terrain, size and crowdedness of the beach.

As part of the relay, you can have a kayak race, a fill-the-bucket-with-water event using only your hands, a three-legged race in the water, a beach chair obstacle course or a combat crawl through the sand (maybe under a fishnet).

Vander Vliet recommends you include elements that involve brains over brawn as part of the relay, like a jigsaw puzzle that the team has to complete before advancing (very “Survivor”-esque, no?). “Putting in mental elements is an equalizer if one team is better physically than the other,” he says.

One team challenge that combines both the physical and mental aspects is a paper plate minefield. Blindfold one person per team, and have his teammates verbally guide him around the plates, from one end of the minefield to the other. If he steps on one, he starts over. The options are limitless.
Official rules: Wikipedia.org

When you’re out flying the -- hopefully -- friendly skies in search of a good woman, you’ll need a great co-pilot. Here are the traits he’ll need to have.

Meeting women is not a solo sport. For men, it's essential to work in teams -- typically two-man excursions with one man in charge and the other designated as wingman, whose primary role is to assist the "pilot." Whether the setting’s a bar or bookstore, a good wingman can turn a strikeout scenario into a successful sortie.

So what kind of guys should you recruit before suiting up for a mission? Well, when it comes to separating a green pilot from a flying ace, say our sources, a good wingman should be …

• Assertive As anyone in the game will tell you, it takes guts to approach women cold. "A good wingman will push his buddy to take risks,” says Stephen Simpson, Ph.D., who wrote the book What Women Wish You Knew about Dating. “He gets you to do things you wouldn't. He's the icebreaker, the cheerleader and the commiserator when you get rejected. He makes you go talk to that woman whom you think out of your league.” Think: Sydney Fife (played by Jason Segel) in the recent hit flick I Love You, Man.
• Similar (to you) No matter how bold your wingman is, if you don't click with him, you're probably going to crash and burn. Dr. Geoffrey Greif, a professor of social work at the University of Maryland, talked to 400 men and 120 women for his book Buddy System: Men and Their Male Friendships. Based on his research, he says, "Nerds don't like hanging out with jocks -- they find them intimidating and uninteresting. Masculine guys hate being thought of as gay, so they won’t hang out with effeminate men." In other words, your wingman should be someone you're comfortable with. While relative looks don't matter that much, he says, "men seek friends who have the same level of masculinity."
• Adaptable It's called "jumping on a grenade" -- the wingman act of talking (and possibly more) with a girl's friend, freeing up “the pilot” to hook up with said girl. But it's just one of many wingman duties, all tying into being adaptable to any situation. If, for instance, in the middle of the evening you decide to change course and go after his prospect, instead of your own -- your friend should go with it. If you introduce yourself and your wingman as traveling beekeepers (despite his potentially fatal allergy to yellow jacket venom) to spark the interest of a group of women, he should also go along with it. And if you make him pay for the drinks, he should still go along with it (because you’ll get him back later -- right?).
  
  "He has to understand you -- he has to be able to read you," says Greif. "Men don't like to explain things to a guy, so a good wingman will know when to get you to talk and when to not force you to." Perfect bromantic example: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. "They got each other’s humor," says Greif. A more modern bromance: John (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) in Wedding Crashers. 
• Male Contrary to conventional wisdom, women don't make the best wingmen. While on the surface, enlisting a female co-pilot seems like a good way to show you're "safe," it raises too many questions, says Simpson. "She'll wonder why you hang out with women. She'll think you don't get along well with other men. And she'll have questions about your relationship and history with the woman. The last thing you want is a quiet, mysterious female at your side while you're hitting on someone."

Greif agrees that men make the best wingmen, with different reasoning: "They will not press the guy to be too emotional or emotive. Men like being with men because they will not be pressed to talk about their feelings as much as with women."

The Ultimate Wingman
Put all those qualities together, and who do you have? According to Simpson, Vince Vaughn's character from Swingers, Trent, epitomizes the ideal wingman.

"He begins by encouraging you and offering advice. He pushes and guides you until, suddenly, he's no longer needed. A good wingman wants the student to become the teacher. He wants his buddy to reach the point where he says, 'Don't worry -- I got this.' It's the self-sacrificial aspect of male bonding. We can't die for each other in battle as much as we could a century or two ago. But we can still jump on a grenade now and then."

When times get tough, the financially challenged get romantic. That is, they can if they follow these thrifty -- but effective -- dating strategies.

Even if you’re not sitting on a trust fund or earning big bucks, you can still show a lady a great time on just a little dough. And if you are well-off, these tips can still help you date well, since the amount of money spent on a date doesn’t necessarily equal the amount of fun to be had. Follow these five low-cost dating strategies, and you’ll get great ROI (Romance on Investment).

 

Get Retro
Ask her about board games she liked as a kid. Then go out and actually get them. (Her sweet tooth for “Candyland” will only cost you $12.99 on eBay, or -- if you’re lucky -- she’ll say “Battleship,” only $11.95 on eBay.) She’ll squeal with surprise -- not in a Deliverance kind of way.
Why this works: You asked about her past, you remembered her response, you went out, scouted for that game and found it. Women consider effort, especially when the process involves several steps, an amazing feat for guys. Use that to your advantage.
Caution: Do not drop hints beforehand -- she’ll inevitably think it’s bigger/shinier and be disappointed regardless of what you get. This way, she’s totally surprised.

Break a Sweat
Believe it or not, she’s been waiting for someone to take her to the park -- the one with the rubber tires and monkey bars. Just be sure to avoid after-school hours -- kick it up after the kiddies go home for dinner.
Why this works: She gets to talk about herself. She’ll tell you about how she once cracked a tooth on the asphalt, did an amazing summersault off the swings and survived the wrath of mean girl Stacey Abramowitz in sixth grade. Bottom line: She’ll feel like you really know her and this little adventure has brought you together.
Caution: You haven’t done a standing flip off the top of the slide in at least a couple of years. Maybe you’ve grown, gained weight or just remember the ground as being farther away. Leave gymnastics to the pros.

Get Classic
Bring over some movies like Casablanca or Gone with the Wind. She’ll tag you a Renaissance man akin to Rick or Rhett (even if your real goal is to avoid having to sit through another contemporary chick flick). Alternative: Pick up season one of her favorite TV show (maybe it’s “Friends,” “Weeds” -- hopefully anything but “Sex and the City”).
Why this works: Rather than scream “cheap date,” the evening will sing “romance.” Plus, you can top it off with some of your special gourmet popcorn (a la bag!).
Caution: Maybe she did say she liked Black Hawk Down, but resist the urge.

Be Silly
Whether it’s doing Mad Libs together or teaming up against another couple for charades, you’ll be taking advantage of the fact that the language and interaction part of her brain is bigger. See, while men like doing things in a parallel way (like sitting side by side watching sports), research shows women like face-to-face and verbal interaction.
Why this works: She gets back-and-forth time with you and gets to use words.
Caution: Learn what an adverb and a reflexive pronoun are before playing Mad Libs or you’ll look like a tool.

Give a Little
Ask her to join you at the soup kitchen. No, not to eat there, dummy -- to do volunteer work. Although you won’t label this a real “date,” afterward, you’ll enjoy the fresh afterglow of having done some good in the world, which will give you both a warm and fuzzy feeling that’s very … date-like.
Why this works: Wow, how cool, you care about others! What a breath of fresh air!
Caution: Make sure to pick a cause you really like -- your heartfelt mission to help will render you irresistible.

If staying lean is a struggle, you just might be hanging out with the wrong crowd. Here’s how to stop your friends from making you fat.

Your friends. If you didn’t know they loved you, you’d think they were trying to kill you: convincing you to go streaking during a blizzard, throwing that wild pitch right at your noggin, secretly spicing your chili with jalapenos.

But there’s something else they might be doing to harm you, and neither they nor you may even know it.

They could be making you fat.

Yes, your bros may influence your weight and the behaviors that tend to make you overweight. In a study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, youngsters age 9 to 15 were paired up with either a friend or an unfamiliar person of similar age. Friends who ate together consumed more food than those paired with someone they didn't know. Friends were also more likely to eat similar amounts than participants paired with a stranger. The results, researchers said, suggest that friends may act as “permission givers” when it comes to overeating.

“It’s the same as smoking,” says exercise psychologist Thomas Collingwood, who holds a doctorate in psychology and works at Fitness Intervention Technologies in Richardson, Texas. “If your buddies smoke, you tend to smoke. The issue is peer pressure -- and we’ve known for a long time that this has a powerful, powerful effect on all kinds of behaviors.”

Does this mean you need to shed friends to shed pounds? Not necessarily. You can fight the weighty influence of your crew while actually helping them get leaner, fitter and healthier. The ways:

1. Know when you’re at risk and plan ahead.
Beware the dangers of being packed into a booth down at the local TGIF with your posse on a Saturday night. “The dinner table or the bar is probably the worst for guys,” says weight loss expert Kara Mohr, who holds a doctorate in exercise physiology and is the co-owner of Mohr Results Inc. “It’s a ‘man out’ thing -- who can drink the most, eat the most, enjoy the most.”

Recognizing these high-risk social eating situations in advance will enable you to plan ahead. For instance, consider pulling up the menu of the restaurant you’re headed to in advance so you can find the healthy alternatives there -- or maybe even decide you don’t want to go to this place at all! “Once you’re at the buffet at happy hour, it’s probably too late,” adds Mohr.

2. Take one step at a time.
“You don’t have to say ‘I’m going to stop hanging around with my friends, go the gym every night and eat celery sticks from now on,’” says Mohr. Instead, start by skipping the wings at happy hour. Or decide not to drink on weeknights. Or choose the menu’s healthy alternatives. “You still have choices, even if you’re hanging with the same friends,” says Janice Baker, a registered dietitian based in San Diego, Calif. “Instead of five beers, maybe it’s two beers with water in between. Instead of a double cheeseburger and 64-ounce soda, maybe it’s a regular burger with an iced tea.”

3. Put your money where your mouth isn’t.
No need to make an announcement about your new exercise or eating program. Just go ahead and do it. “You don’t have to talk about dieting; just set an example and enjoy your friends,” says Baker. “They might catch on and start asking about what you’re doing to be in such good shape.”

4. Be the game changer.
Perhaps the group could use a shake-up. While watching football on TV, “maybe you take the initiative to say, ‘Hey guys, at halftime, let’s go shoot some hoops instead of sitting around,’” recommends Collingwood. “Or ‘This week, how about we meet at the gym before we go out?’”

5. Work together.
Psychologists often use a “behavior contract,” a written agreement that you and a buddy could sign, to help people make changes. Example: You and your pal can pledge to do a 30-minute circuit workout at the gym together twice a week for the next month. You set a nonfood reward for compliance (e.g., after the month of workouts, you’ll treat yourselves to tickets to a ball game) and a punishment for failure (e.g., you’ll both do the dishes for your respective girlfriends for a week). If one sticks with reaching the goal and the other doesn’t, the non-sticker buys the tix.

Collingwood, who has helped develop fitness programs for everyone from middle schoolers to veteran police officers, says he’s found a 60 percent success rate with those who use a behavior contract. “They’re successful if they’re kept simple and doable,” he says.

6. Make a clean break.
If your playmates refuse to buy into any of this, maybe it is time to move on -- or at least see them a little less or under different circumstances. Instead, you can make some new friends (at the gym, the park -- heck, maybe even Subway!) who want to lift weights and play ball, and whose idea of fun extends beyond seeing how many plates of nachos and cheese they can scarf down. Says Mohr: “It can’t hurt to find new friends that model the behaviors you want to adopt.”