A fast track to relationships

The gym as meat market is a cliche that dates back to leg warmers, big hair and “Perfect,” that ‘80s movie that pegged slick health clubs as hookup central.

Two decades after a spandex-wearing Jane Fonda told us to feel the burn, clothing isn’t the only thing that’s changed. Gyms are as much a part of everyday life as grocery stores and movie theaters, and most no longer have that cheesy pickup cachet.

Sure, there are still some clubs where members wear designer workout clothes or full makeup in case Mr. or Ms. Right is on the elliptical trainer. But most gyms are casual, relaxed places where generic shorts and T-shirts are the preferred dress code, and people find it easy to strike up conversations. Dating may be on people’s minds, but it’s usually not the primary reason they’re there -- getting healthy is. These days, hookups are more likely saved for Internet connections.

“I go to the gym to work out,” says Sabrina Ramos, 25, a marketing representative from West L.A. But, she adds, “it’s nice to know who you’re walking next to on the treadmill.... I keep an open mind. If there’s common ground, let’s talk about it.”

Jonny Mann, a 32-year-old associate producer from Los Angeles, works out five days a week at Gold’s Gym in downtown L.A. He says he primarily meets women when he’s out at Hollywood haunts with friends, preferring those venues for dating, and leaving the gym for exercise. He has dated a few women he’s met at Gold’s, and credits the casual atmosphere for making it easy to strike up a conversation. “I’ll say something like, ‘Did you see the game last night?’ We all have something in common here, and it’s a good chance that if you meet someone they’re into healthy living.”

Talking about the stock market while on the stationary bike at the Spectrum club was how Erin DiGennaro, a 28-year-old pharmaceutical sales rep from Westwood, got to know a guy named Marc a few years ago. That led to conversations about running 10K races, then training for 10K races.

“Then,” she says, “we just started dating from there.” Eventually the two got married, and although she’s now at a different gym that is closer to her job, workouts remain something the couple has in common.

Every gym manager has witnessed the mating rituals of the gym and knows of couples who have hooked up during treadmill jaunts or Spinning classes. Even though sweat is flowing and hair is plastered to the head, people do end up dating, getting engaged and even, like the DiGennaros, marrying.

Why date someone you met at the gym? Why not, says dating expert Sherry Amatenstein, the dating columnist at IVillage .com.

“At a gym you’re doing something you’re interested in, and meeting someone is kind of like the icing on the cake,” says Amatenstein. “This way you’re more you, you’re more natural.”

Having those workouts in common is paramount for some exercise devotees who wouldn’t dream of dating a certified sloth. Barbara Jicha was fixed up with a fellow gym member through her group cycling instructor at Bodies in Motion in Century City. “Definitely because I’m an avid worker-outer,” says the 34-year-old elementary school teacher from Brentwood, “it’s nice to know someone else also worked out and exercised. I wasn’t looking for a hardbody, but someone who had a healthy lifestyle. Not a couch potato.”

Now they’re getting married.

In this era of online dating when couples may decide to meet after some brief, witty e-mail banter, there may be less risk involved in getting together with someone you see regularly at the gym. Sure, there are creeps, but it’s fairly easy to find out if that cute guy is an upstanding member of the health club community or the sleazy resident lothario.

Gyms are proud of their social component -- that’s social in a good way, not an icky way. Managers are quick to talk about other gyms where anybody with skimpy workout wear or six-pack abs is fair game for hitting on.

The good kind of social is the atmosphere at Crunch in West Hollywood, boasts Bill Stepanian, the gym’s general manager. The club’s young, hip urbanite members -- many in the entertainment industry -- flock together in and out of the gym. Its location in a minimall featuring a movie theater complex, a Wolfgang Puck Cafe and a Buzz Coffee makes it conducive to extracurricular activities.

“We’ll have people who will take a class together and then go see a movie or get coffee,” he says. “People just seem very social and friendly.”

According to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Assn., a health club industry trade organization, 40% of clubs provide some kind of social programming, from a Christmas party to an outside-the-gym mixer to weekend hikes. Some 44% have juice bars, perfect for fostering those pre- or post-workout hangouts.

At Bodies in Motion in Santa Monica (formerly in Century City), instructors have started regular bowling and hiking groups. Corporate program director Misty Tripoli loves salsa dancing and figured others would too, so she invited club members to join her on the outside.

“People are comfortable because they know me,” she explains, “and I’m the catalyst for them to meet each other. It’s a natural thing.”

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Times staff writer Jeannine Stein can be reached by e-mail at jeannine.stein@latimes.com.