Where can I get one of those painful greased up wrestler massages?

June 2, 2007 8:03 PM

[Massage Filter] I remember watching an episode of Lonely Planet / Pilot Guides / Globe Trekker where Ian Wright went to some Arab country (I think either Turkey or Iran) where you go into this bath house and this greased up muscular guy basically does wrestling moves on you to completely give your body a painful but in a good way loosening up. Can I get any info on this?
posted by dino terror to health & fitness (13 comments total)

There was an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations on the Travel Channel in which Tony visited a bath house in Uzbekistan and had this kind of painful wrestling massage (but there didn't seem to be any good part involved).
posted by scody at 8:11 PM on June 2, 2007

It was turkey, in a Turkish Bath, more info here. The 'rough massage' is part of the bath house treatment.
posted by damn dirty ape at 8:23 PM on June 2, 2007

Just about any bathhouse in Turkey should be able to supply this.

I have a particular memory of this bloke making me cross my arms, and then leaning on me in such a way as to make cracking noises from my sternum which really worried me at the time.

(Also, Turkey is not Arab)
posted by pompomtom at 8:23 PM on June 2, 2007

(Nor is Iran, now that I think of it... but I've not been there, so don't know how they do massages...)
posted by pompomtom at 8:25 PM on June 2, 2007

There was a fairly lengthy Turkish massage scene in Maichael Palin's Pole to Pole. Might that be it?

Budapest is also a good place for this sort of treatment. I had my limbs rearranged at Széchenyi, and highly recommend it.
posted by milquetoast at 8:37 PM on June 2, 2007

It looks like it was Morocco. Fifth Google link for "Ian Wright massage"

"Ian Wright travels to Morocco... Ian spends a day exploring the Medina and winding back-alleys, before heading for the hammam, where he experiences a violent Moroccan massage."
posted by nobodyyouknow at 8:39 PM on June 2, 2007

nobodyyouknow: Well that's gotta be it then, now I just need to work on finding out what it was called...
posted by dino terror at 8:44 PM on June 2, 2007

Do you mean what they call it in Moroccan Arabic? I can get that for you, but it doesn't seem like it would do you much good.

BTW, women can get the same kind of massage - it's done by these huge women (and I say that as a 6'0" 195 lb woman, so I know big) , and they twist you around like a noodle. Great stuff.

And Morocco is not entirely Arab, either.
posted by Liosliath at 9:37 PM on June 2, 2007

Liosliath: You can get what they call it in Arabic? I'm looking for what they call it in English, but I'll take what I can get...
posted by dino terror at 9:43 PM on June 2, 2007

Where do you live? I haven't been able to locate a proper hammam anywhere in the States, and I've asked Moroccans from just about every major area. I'll ask my husband what the name is in a minute, I can't seem to remember. I keep wanting to say "gommage," but that's a French word they nicked to refer to the scrubbing with sabon beldi.

About the massage - I don't believe there's a standard technique, just stuff that's passed down from employee to employee. It's one of the lowest jobs on the totem pole in Morocco, BTW.
posted by Liosliath at 9:49 PM on June 2, 2007

This page has some information about hammam organization and etiquette, and refers to the washing as "gommage."
posted by nobodyyouknow at 9:59 PM on June 2, 2007

Lio, there's one in Chi-town.
posted by damn dirty ape at 9:31 AM on June 3, 2007

That looks cool, but it's definitely not a Moroccan style hammam, just from the mention of the "dry heat" style of the hot room.
posted by Liosliath at 10:25 AM on June 3, 2007