6 Places Where Men Go to Pick Up Women

by AskMen.com

Lots of my single friends whine to me about how hard it is to pick up women. They recant tales of wasted nights spent in bars fruitlessly hitting on girls who seem to have zero interest in being picked up.

I equate this scenario to hunting for deer on a shooting range. Girls out for a night of dancing at a club have a hyper-heightened sense of awareness and build up a fairly intense buffer to protect themselves from the hordes of slimy sharks circling about. Only a lucky few guys are able to consistently break through that and make an impression; the rest are left to drown their sorrows on $10.50 gin & tonics. If they are really serious about meeting women, I tell my buddies that they've got to think outside the box -- get beyond nightclubs or torturous speed-dating sessions.

But no one has ever accused these guys of being the most brilliant or motivated men on earth, so I put together this list of five underappreciated and potentially high-percentage pickup locales. That's what friends are for, right?

Dog parks

Dogs are fueling a growing social network, and that has turned these urban green spaces into the nightclubs of the new millennium. Just walk by any one of these things after work or on a sunny Saturday afternoon and you'll see just how popular they are. And thanks to Paris Hilton, tiny, ridiculously spoiled lapdogs have become common accessories for most girls. These trendy metropolitan women are usually fashionable and hot, and dog parks are literally crawling with them.

Don't have a dog? Your local SPCA has lots of dogs. Even if you don't want to adopt one, they are more than happy to let you take one for a walk. Head down to the park and let Rex break the ice for you. You'll always have something to talk about, and the significant amount of responsibility she'll assume you have for owning the pup only furthers your cause.

Locale-appropriate approach:

Cute, well-behaved dogs have a way of attracting girls. So one of the best ways to approach them in a dog park is to not approach them at all. Wait until she comes up to you to give your four-legged friend a nice scratch behind his ear. Then, it's time to work your magic and give her dog a bone.

Yoga

It is a great coincidence how many of the locales that appear on this list are also great vehicles to living a better life. Take yoga: It is a phenomenal way to stay in shape, and is also super-popular with a dizzying number of unbelievably hot women. We're not just talking about flower-power hippies either. It attracts all sorts of girls, many of whom are hot, fit and flexible (three of the most important criteria, wouldn't you say?)

It's a real win/win: You get to stretch and firm up your muscles and, at the same time watch girls in skin-tight yoga gear do really incredible things with their bodies. You can even try hot yoga, where the yoga room is heated up to 100-degrees. It really gets the sweat flowing, the muscles loose and the clothing layers removed. Of course, you don't want to stumble your way around the yoga class and make an ass of yourself in front of these girls. Seek out beginner classes or buy some instructional DVDs until you learn a few poses and are ready to put it to the test.

Locale-appropriate approach:

No girl, regardless of how healthy or fit they are, can turn down dessert—especially after she's just worked so hard. Seek her out, make some small talk about how much you worked in the class and then suggest you split a piece of cheesecake as a reward for both of your hard work. From there, it's a suggestion to carpool, an invitation to grab a casual drink sometime and finally a little private one-on-one session on the mat. That should keep your chakra in line!

Live music

One of the things that makes live music such fertile ground for hooking up is the diverse crowd it attracts. You've got your average socially active crowd and a legion of girls drawn out of their houses purely for the love of the band. These demure, often shy girls are also human beings and develop healthy natural urges. It is almost your duty as a man to help her with that in any way possible.

I'm not talking about going to see the Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden here; instead, focus on smaller venues that book lesser-known indie bands. These bands attract a feverish following of these aforementioned young ladies and the intimate setting of these claustrophobic venues gives you plenty of chances to be near whomever catches your eye.

Look at your local underground weekly, college newspapers or on websites like PitchforkMedia.com to see who is coming to your town and where. Put on your iconic Atari T-shirt and head down for some navel gazing with the hipsters. Just because they only talk about bands and music doesn't mean they don't like to get down in other ways.

Locale-appropriate approach:

Most of the other guys in attendance are one-dimensional music geeks, many of whom are particularly clueless when it comes to matters of the fairer sex. This puts you at an immediate advantage. Instead of bragging about how much you know about the band (and "how much better they were before they sold out!"), tell her you only know a few songs but really like what you've heard. She'll love the unpretentious naivety, and you'll love what comes after the mixed CDs she will eventually make for you.

Continuing education classes

Want to advance your career? Looking to meet smart, ambitious girls? What if I told you there's a place to do both -- often for free? Go take a class at night school. It's an almost flawless situation, especially if your work offers tuition reimbursement, which most self-respecting companies do. Either way, these brief courses aren't that expensive and give you plenty of contact with lots of people, including girls. Take a French class and find out what she means when she says, "Prends-moi avec vigueur, homme viril" ("Take me with passion, you virile man!").

Locale-appropriate approach:

You've got to stake your claim early. This means arriving for the first class and taking a seat near the bombshell that suits your fancy. From there, the teacher will often do the work for you, partnering you up in groups for projects. A little late-night study session, some wine, a gentle neck rub to relieve tired, studious muscles -- next thing you know she's giving you a hands-on anatomy lesson.

Art gallery

Everyone could use a bit more culture in their lives. Fear Factor and other types of pop culture don't count. I am talking about true, challenging, snooty kind of culture. Art museums are the perfect place to gain an appreciation for the finer things in life, and they also happen to be fantastic spots to meet women. These ladies usually have their guards way down and have a positive prejudice for guys they see browsing around inside galleries. You'll normally only find bookish, librarian types or artists -- two female demographics that don't get a lot of male attention and will be over the moon to receive some from you. Just be sure you don't gawk too long at the nudes -- that's a fairly easy red flag to spot.

Locale-appropriate approach:

Chances are most of your knowledge of art history comes from watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She'll see right through you if you arrive without having done any homework. Pick a gallery that is showcasing an artist you enjoy and study a lot on one particular painting. You can then focus most of your time around it and impress her with your in-depth knowledge.

The perfect pickup

Good things normally happen when you least expect it, right? That's why most of the locales I've listed as high-percentage pickup places are so effective. They put women in situations where they don't feel threatened or leered at, and this makes them so much more open to your advances. As a bonus, most of them are also places that encourage positive change in your life. So, even if you don't manage to hook up, you've at least got that to fall back on. Hey, it beats crying into overpriced draught beer at a club, doesn't it?