Fall football can be very stressful for guys, especially watching it. Sitting for hours in front of the TV, barely moving until your team makes a play. Then up you pop, jumping and back-slapping your buddies. It’s a lot of wear and tear on the body.
Spa treatments geared toward men can help keep muscles and joints pliable and relaxed. At Spa Desert Springs at JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa (www.spadesertspringsresort.com) in Palm Desert, the Quarter-Back Massage (through January) is designed to alleviate the stress of football fans, many of whom compete from home, calling plays during games and engaging in fantasy football contests.
By incorporating some of the same techniques used on the pros, this therapeutic massage begins with compression to help relax the body before the massage begins. Skilled therapists use a variety of modalities — stretching, cross-fiber technique, acupressure, and deep tissue — to keep guys (and girls) in the game.
Take a break from the gridiron and melt into the grotto at Two Bunch Palms Resort & Spa in Desert Hot Springs (www.twobunchpalms.com). The reputed haunt of gangster Al Capone, Two Bunch Palms offers a heady respite from the pressures of everyday life. Before you take a dip in the grotto’s naturally heated mineral waters, get an intensive deep-tissue massage designed to loosen and lengthen deep layers of musculature. Therapists apply fingers, fists, forearms, and elbows to pressure points to decrease spasms and break up adhesions in the muscles. Powerful and penetrating, this deep tissue work is not for the fainthearted.
Guys who like their skin smooth seek out mirela’s spa du jour in La Quinta (www.spadujour.us), where waxing is an art. From legs to stomach to backs, Mirela’s offers professional treatments that will leave men as hairless as they desire.
It’s all good at Ace Hotel & Swim Club’s Feel Good Spa in Palm Springs (www.acehotel.com/palmsprings/spa). The Good Back treatment cleanses, exfoliates, and extracts impurities from one of the more neglected parts of the body. The spa’s basic detoxifying facial, called Good Face, includes cleansing, exfoliation, extractions, mask, rehydration, and facial massage.
Guys who have to keep on their toes will benefit from Feel Good Spa’s reflexology treatment focusing on the feet, where nerves connect to the body’s organs. This stimulating procedure breaks up crystallization and unblocks energy.
In addition to offering facials, massages, reflexology, and other treatments geared specifically for guys, Sunstone Spa at Agua Caliente Casino • Resort • Spa (www.hotwatercasino.com) is the place to go for nail care for the modern male. From the Soothe and Smooth Manicure to Rough and Buff Pedicure, Sunstone Spa provides a manly approach to indulgent self-care.