Pilates History

About Joseph Pilates

Joseph Pilates, was originally from Germany, and immigrated to the United States in 1925.  He believed that the “modern lifestyle, bad posture, and inefficient breathing lay at the roots of poor health.”  Pilates ultimately devised a series of exercises and  training techniques, and engineered all the equipment, specifications, and tuning required to teach his methods properly.

 

Joseph Pilates was placed in two  internment camps during World War 1. During his first internment he  intensively developed his concept of an integrated, comprehensive system  of physical exercise, which he himself called “Contrology”. He studied yoga and the movements of animals and trained his fellow  inmates in fitness and exercises. During the later part of World War I, he was interred on the Isle of Man and worked as an orderly in a hospital with patients unable to walk. He attached bed springs to the hospital beds to help support the  patient’s limbs, leading to the development of his famous piece of  equipment known as the ‘Cadillac’. Much of his equipment, although  slightly adapted, is still in use today in many Pilates Studios.

​

He emigrated to the United States around 1925. On the ship to America, he met his future wife Clara. The couple  founded a studio in New York City and directly taught and supervised  their students well into the 1960s. “Contrology”, related to encouraging  the use of the mind to control muscles, focusing attention on core postural muscles that help keep the body balanced and provide support for the spine.  In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and of alignment of the spine, and strengthen the deep torso and abdominal muscles.