I've been going for bi-weekly massages for about 8 months as a work perk. The place we go to has some OK staff, and it took me a while to work my way through to who actually pushed on the muscles a little versus who just petted you and sent you home. They were decent massages for a free perk, but not what I'd necessarily seek out for sports massage if I were spending my own dollars.
Lately there's been some turnover at the clinic, so I talked for a while with the front desk girl. There's one masseuse I avoid like the plauge, I'd pet a kitten harder than she massages. The one who I was seeing regularly put a little effort into the cause, but she wasn't really a sports massage type. After some discussion, it turns out I hit the jackpot. It's a guy named Greg. Front desk was working on the assumption that men only wanted masseuse's. Sure, I guess that's a preference, but I also don't want 3rd rate service, I'm not into wasting time and effort for "nothing".
My mental image of Greg is now as "Greg the Gorilla". That's not derogatory, a masseur needs some upper body strength. Greg the Gorilla walks into the waiting room and extends his hand for me to shake... his upper body is mildly musclebound, especially compared to my cycling physique. He say's he's worked on cyclists before, and eventually we figured out the connected cirlce (again, one of these Calgary is a really small town type of things).
I got more massage value out of that half hour than I have had in the last 8 months. Greg was pushing so hard I could hear his breathing elevate from the workload, and I was breathing hard just to remain remotely tranquil. I could feel knots in my calves, hamstrings, glutes being pulverized. I know I'm going to be sore tomorrow, but it's a useful sore. It'll take a few times to really work them out, but I've got 100% confidence they'll be on the losing end of this battle. I'm happy.
Erik, in Edmonton in the old days I used to have a massage therapist that I went to see a couple of times. I still have nightmares about it. You have to consider that I was 230lbs and had a very low fat percentage, and had a very high pain threshold. Marlynn was about 6'4 and was over the 200lb mark. She is a female, and a very big one at that.
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