Alexis Dewet and Sports Massage: From Social Media to the Italian Massage Contest

Can you introduce yourself to our readers? Who are you, and what was your path to becoming a massage practitioner?

I came into the world of massage through sport. At 25, we had formed a group of athletes, some of whom later took part in the Olympic Games. We regularly massaged each other to support our training and recovery. Little by little, my friends came to appreciate the way I massaged and encouraged me to train further. At that time, though, I didn't want to make it my profession. I was a physical trainer and an anatomy teacher, and for me massage was mainly a way to help my friends and the athletes around me. It was finally in 2017 that a friend signed up for a massage course and asked me to join him. I said yes, and that's when I really started to deepen this practice. Today I mainly practice deep tissue, combined with various manual techniques and stretching. My approach remains heavily influenced by my background in sport and my knowledge of anatomy. In 2025, following a burnout, I decided to leave my previous job and take a different direction: moving away from the pursuit of performance to focus more on wellbeing. It was really in June 2025 that a new chapter began for me and massage took on a central place in my professional life. And even though I've been massaging for many years, I still consider myself something of a beginner. Because since I decided to truly make it my profession, I'm discovering just how much I still have to learn and explore.

You share your passion with both your clients and other practitioners. Where does this desire to pass it on, beyond just practicing, come from?

My desire to pass things on comes directly from my past as a physical trainer and teacher. I've always loved sharing my knowledge and supporting people who genuinely want to learn. Today, I want to help practitioners who are motivated, invested, and constantly looking to progress in their profession. To me, there's really no such thing as competition. We have much more to gain by exchanging knowledge and experience than by trying to keep our techniques to ourselves. I believe we should learn from one another, draw inspiration from the best, and above all accept criticism when it's constructive. No one knows everything. Myself included. That's also the mindset I want to pass on: share, learn, question yourself, and progress together.

Sports massage and Deep Tissue are at the heart of your practice. What draws you particularly to these approaches?

I'm trained in many massage methods and I deeply respect every approach and the world that comes with it. But over time I realized that some practices simply suited me less. I get more bored with them, enjoy them less, and sometimes find the time drags. What I'm truly passionate about is deep tissue, sports massage, and above all the anatomical approach to massage. I like understanding what's under my hands: the muscles, the joints, the different tissue layers, the movements, and the interactions between the body's different structures. For me, this approach requires solid knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics, not just to know the names of muscles, but to understand how the body works, how it moves, and how to adapt your massage to the person in front of you. It's this ongoing search for understanding, precision, and adaptation that I'm passionate about and that makes me want to keep learning.

How would you describe your own vision or "signature" in the way you practice these techniques?

I don't try to apply an identical protocol to every person. I like to observe, understand how the body moves, identify the areas that deserve my attention, and then adapt my techniques, angles, pressure, and mobilizations. My background in sport, physical training, and teaching anatomy hugely influences the way I massage. I need to understand what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. For me, knowing a muscle isn't enough: you need to understand its function, its movements, its interactions with the surrounding structures, and know how to adapt your work to the person. Even though I mainly practice deep tissue and sports massage, I don't want to be locked into a single method. I can use deep work, stretching, mobilizations, or other techniques if I feel they make sense in the moment. And above all, deep tissue doesn't necessarily mean massaging hard. I look more for the right angle, the right placement, and the right intention than for maximum pressure. In the end, my signature might be this: understand before acting, adapt rather than recite a protocol, and seek precision rather than force.

You're already preparing training trips to Turkey, Thailand, and other countries. What do you hope to discover or deepen through these experiences?

A: I still consider myself a beginner in my practice, despite my years of experience. For almost eight years, I massaged in more or less the same way. Back then, I didn't really consider myself a massage professional. It was something I loved doing, but I wasn't yet trying to explore everything this world could offer me. In the end, my burnout was one of the hardest experiences, but also one of the biggest turning points in my journey. It opened my eyes and gave me the desire to fully commit to this profession. Since then, my outlook has completely changed. I want to constantly progress, improve my practice, deepen my knowledge of anatomy, and discover new massage, mobility, and recovery techniques to enrich what I can offer my clients. That's also why I want to keep training, particularly abroad. Discovering other practitioners, other cultures, and other ways of working lets me step out of my habits and regularly question my practice.

And above all, I want to share what I learn, with my followers, but also with other practitioners. I don't want to give the impression of someone who knows everything. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I still have to discover. And that's probably what motivates me most today.

You recreated your page a year ago, starting from around 150 followers, and today you have more than 51,000. How do you explain such rapid growth?

Personally, I see four main reasons for this growth. The first is that in France, massage was long associated almost exclusively with wellness and classic massage. In 2017, when I talked about deep tissue, very few people around me knew this approach. At the time, I was even told: "Your massage business won't work." Today, things have changed enormously. The second reason is that people are much more interested in their bodies now. Many live with tension, stiffness, or discomfort linked to work, a sedentary lifestyle, or sport. They discover other approaches to massage and think: "Actually, this might suit me." The third reason is that massage is evolving, just as physical training has evolved. Systematic protocols are gradually giving way to more adaptation. Clients are looking for movement, mobility, stretching, and above all a session that's truly tailored to their needs. Finally, my background certainly gives me extra credibility. Thanks to my years in the sports world, I've had the chance to work with high-level athletes, some of them well known. Their trust and feedback naturally give visibility to my work. But I think this credibility should never be taken for granted: massaging a great athlete can open a door, but only the quality of the work keeps it open.

Beyond the technique itself, what are you trying to convey through your content?

Beyond the technique, I'm mainly trying to convey a certain vision of massage and the body. I want to show that massage isn't just about applying techniques or pressing hard. There's reflection, anatomy, observation, adaptation, and above all a lot of learning behind every movement. I also try to make practitioners want to be curious, to keep training, and to never think they know everything. And for the general public, my message is simpler: understand your body better, give it attention, and don't wait until you're completely exhausted to start taking care of it.

Does having such a large community change anything in the way you practice, or in your sense of responsibility as a practitioner?

No, absolutely nothing. Even though 50,000 followers is already a lot of people, I keep a lot of perspective about it. Whether I'm followed by 150 people, 50,000, or a million wouldn't change the way I practice. When someone is on my massage table, the number of followers no longer matters at all: they remain my priority. I've always tried to stay very humble. Social media can bring visibility, but it should never change how you view your profession, your clients, or other practitioners. And above all, having a large community doesn't mean you know better than others. You have to keep learning, questioning yourself, and progressing.

This is your first time taking part in an international championship. What made you say yes to this experience?

I've always had a competitive spirit. Competition has always been part of my life, and without a challenge or a goal, I tend to get bored quickly. But I'm not coming to this championship just to chase a ranking. It's mainly a new experience, a way to step out of my comfort zone, to encounter other ways of working, and to meet practitioners from different backgrounds. I also love traveling and discovering what's being done elsewhere. In the end, this championship brings together several things that suit me: competition, massage, meeting people, and travel. For a first international participation, I mainly want to enjoy the experience, observe, and learn... and of course my competitive side will take care of the rest.

Our approach to the championship goes beyond rankings: above all, we aim to give value and support to practitioners, through an experience of sharing and connection among professionals from around the world. What does this philosophy mean to you, even before experiencing the competition?

As I explained earlier, this philosophy really matches the way I see things. Of course, I have a competitive spirit, but the ranking remains secondary compared to everything an experience like this can bring. I don't see other practitioners as competitors. Meeting professionals from all over the world, observing different ways of working, exchanging techniques and knowledge, that's exactly what I'm looking for. We have so much to learn from one another, and we can all lift each other up.

You mentioned being aware that you already have a good technical level, but that the world of competition requires a particular kind of experience. Beyond the technique, what do you expect from this immersion, meeting other practitioners, exchanging ideas, discovering other approaches?

As a passionate masseur, I think I also owe it to myself to discover the world of competition: to understand how it works, what it can offer, but also to know its advantages and disadvantages. Beyond my technical level, I'm mainly coming with a lot of curiosity. I want to meet Masters whose work I admire, but also to discover practitioners I don't yet know who could impress me or teach me something just as much. I remain very open to all methods and approaches. I'm not just looking for what resembles my own way of massaging, quite the opposite. What interests me is precisely discovering what I don't yet know. For me, this immersion is a new opportunity to learn, exchange, question myself, and gradually enrich my own practice.

A message for other practitioners who, like you not long ago, are still hesitant to take the leap into competition, perhaps precisely because of the misconception that it's only about rankings?

I'd simply tell them: go for the experience, not just for the ranking. I'm in exactly that situation myself: this is my first international competition and I still don't really know what to expect. But that's actually what draws me to it. A competition isn't just about winning or losing. It's about stepping out of your comfort zone, showing your way of working, observing others', meeting passionate people, and probably coming home with new ideas. There will always be someone better than you, and thankfully so. That's also how you grow. So if you're only hesitating out of fear of the ranking or of others' judgment, I think you're missing the point: the experience, the encounters, the sharing, and the joy of being there. And ultimately, I'll only really be able to answer this question after having lived it myself.

Interview collected for our magazine. Special thanks to Alexis Dewet Sport Massage for his availability and the sincerity with which he shared own vision.