I consider myself a tough guy. I'm not big, but for my size, I'm pretty strong. I have a high tolerance of pain too. So much so that I injured my elbow once in university because I wouldn't tap out in a Hapkido class.

So why can't I take massages like a man? I'm the wimpiest massagee!! Look, I like the concept of a massage - I like giving them, and I think I like receiving them. But as soon as I'm lying on my front and someone is trying to make me relax with their magic hands in my back, I can't lie still.

There are two ways I find discomfort in massages:
1. The pain of the pointed rub: this being when the masseuse is trying to work out the knots in my back muscles with their thumbs or elbows. I feel like they're working their fingers between joints and muscles, and it frickin' HURTS.
2. The tickles: when I'm being massaged just next to my spine, I squirm like an eel and my legs kind of stiffen in some kind of a defensive move. And it's hard to let the body relax under those circumstances.

Because of these two discomforts, in all the massages I've ever had, I've only fallen asleep during one. It was in Cambodia in the dirtiest massage parlor while getting a $4.50 US/hr massage from a blind man. And that was the best massage ever.

Appended:
I guess I kind of figured it out. I don't like massages so much as getting a relaxing rubbed. But the masseuses that come to our company every Wednesday make a point of pushing their thumbs and knuckles into the nerves. Ouch.