Who was Joseph Pilates?

Joseph Pilates was born near Dusseldorf, Germany in 1880. He was a sick child, suffering from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever. His ailments drove him to excel. He studied both Eastern and Western forms of exercise including yoga, ancient Grecian and Roman regimes, diving, and skiing. He developed his body to near perfection, enabling him to pose for anatomical charts.

Around 1912, during the outbreak of WWI, Joseph Pilates was living in England, trying his hand as a boxer. While there, he was placed in an internment camp in Lancaster, England. He took his fellow camp members under his wings and taught them the concepts and exercises that he had developed over his past 20 years. It was here that he developed his original matwork, known then as “Contrology,” known now to us as Pilates. He was transferred to another camp, where he helped care for internees with disease and/or injuries. This is where he started to develop equipment to rehabilitate the patients. He saw that the springs of the beds could create resistance, thus allowing the bedridden to move and stay active.

Joe and his wife Clara brought their teachings to the United States around 1926. This is where the dance community began to catch on, and see his teachings as an integral part of their dance training.