Many of my clients always ask me what they can do to quickly recover from the dreaded yet appreciated feeling of soreness.
Let me tell you about my experience with them today. This is not the first time I’ve been over there, but it is the first time this year that I’ve visited them. They have been “closed for renovation” during the months of January and February, and I’ve been waiting longingly for them to open up shop again. When I walked in today to the massage place after teaching Zumba this morning, I had no idea they had also changed to another set of Chinese owners, but I did notice the place had a new look.
“How long do you want a massage for?” Jenny, co-owner of the place, politely inquires.
“20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes please,” I requested. My bootie and hamstrings were aching from leading a tough leg workout during Tuesday night’s Zumba class, followed by another one this morning! Pretty much every other muscle in my body was sore too, from a combination of using the computer too much, along with other strong workouts I’ve been inflicting upon myself!
I was escorted to a massage table that had been sectioned off for privacy. In this place, you keep your clothes on. I had a male masseuse assigned to me, and was ready for some deep tissue work. I asked him for a strong massage. And boy did he loosen up the knots in my body!! There’s something about the Chinese method of massage that really hits the spot. He didn’t use oil on me, and surprisingly enough, the friction didn’t bother me. I like the massage to be thorough, especially when I’m very very sore, and I like how deep they get into working out the knots. I was wincing all the way since I was sooo sore.
30 minutes went by. The timer set by my masseuse started beeping. “Can I have 20 minutes more?” I pleaded. He was doing a great job and using massage techniques I had never experienced before. And I’ve gotten massages all over the US and around the world. Definitely unlike Swedish or Deep Tissue massage. You have to try it to understand what I’m talking about.
20 more minutes went by. Again beeps the timer. “Please, let’s make it 60 minutes total,” I asked. My masseuse starts working on my head and does this funky vigorous massage technique that was very unfamiliar, but felt really really goooooood. “Oh my god, can you just tack on 20 more minutes??” He then started doing foot reflexology on me. I’m impressed how good that was! I’m in total euphoric state by now….when you think they’ve covered working on all the muscles of the body, he finds more tight areas. I’m too young to have so much tightness in my body!!!
So all in all, I had a good experience at Refresh Massage. I would say though for the cost of their massage session, which was $20 for 20 minutes, you would be crazy to expect a 5-star ambiance. You could hear the phone ring, other timers beeping, and you were not in your own massage room. You could tell though that the masseuse had a lot of training. Jenny said in China their training lasts 2-3 years. That’s a lot more than in the US. She and the masseuse were very curious about me since I spoke a little mandarin, so they sat me down and we had a conversation for a little bit (in broken Mandarin and English).
She said she and her cousin just moved to Arlington to open up the massage business. They and a couple other masseuse live together on Vermont Street. I told them how I love their business location because they’re right across the hall from Sport & Health, perfectly convenient to get some muscle tightness worked on after a strong exercise session. I was impressed how good my masseuse was, and even though we could barely communicate since he spoke very little English and my mandarin was so basic, I would still ask for him again.
So check Refresh Massage out for yourself and enjoy quick and straight to the point massage.
- Before you start your session, tell Jenny everything you want the masseuse to know about you, or any questions you may have. Otherwise, your massage session will get interrupted while they go get the translator.
- Wear clothes that are easy for the masseuse to work around so you can get skin contact (if you like that). I wore a tank top and loose capris, and that was perfect.
- I worked with Jason the first time — I was referring to him in this review. I’ve also had Kevin work on me, and man, he is strong and good! I had like no soreness the next day, since he worked out all the tight muscles!
