History of Pilates​

Joseph Pilates was born near Dusseldorf in Germany in 1883. He was a sickly child and suffered from rheumatic fever. In his childhood he started studying anatomy (his father was a gymnast and mother a naturopath), both eastern and western forms of exercise and by the time he was 14 he had worked his body so hard that he became a model for anatomy charts. This laid the foundation for what would be The Pilates Method of body conditioning.

 

He emigrated to England in 1912 where he worked as circus performer and a boxer.

In 1914 when the WWI broke out he was interned in an enemy alien camp in Lancaster where he began devising his system of original exercises; Contrology. When he was transferred to another camp on the Isle of Man he became somewhat of a nurse and started working with many internees who suffered from wartime diseases. That is where he designed equipment to rehabilitate them.

After the war Joe returned to Germany where he trained the Hamburg Military Police in self-defence and physical training. Joe invented equipment with the idea of not having to use his own strength while teaching his clients. He made equipment that did it for him. The equipment would resist the movement in just the right way so the inner muscles would have to work against it. This made clients be able to concentrate on movement. He advised to always move slowly and smoothly. Your whole body should be in it.

 

He left Europe in 1925 after refusing to train the German army and went to New York. He met his future wife Clara on the voyage and opened a gym near Madison Square Garden close to the boxers whom he trained and also close to rehersal spaces and dance studios. George Balanchine and Martha Graham would send their dancers to Joe for strengthening, balancing and also rehabilitation. Actors, singers and many ‘famous’ people followed.

 

For over 40 years Joe was teaching in NYC before he died in 1967 at the age of 84. Clara carried on his work till she was 90.

 

Joe has designed not only a method but also apparatus to facilitate this movement.

You can read about the essence of his work in his books:

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