About Joseph Pilates

Joseph Pilates was born Germany in 1883.  As a child he was frail and sickly.  Determined to become healthy and strong, he became a body-builder and worked as a model for anatomical drawings. He practiced and researched many forms of mindfulness and movement including: boxing, skiing, yoga, martial arts, Tai Chi, Zen meditation, diving and gymnastics.  He also studied anatomy and animal movement.  Mr. Pilates meticulously recorded the results of each of these practices. 

After moving to England in 1914, he performed as a circus acrobat and taught self-defense to Scotland Yard detectives.  It was during this time that he began to develop his own exercise system based on the classical Greek ideal of man balanced in mind, body, and spirit.  When WWI broke out he was interned as an “enemy alien.”  During his internment he began to refine his approach to body conditioning. Through his experience as working as a nurse at the internment camp, he began experimenting with his exercise method by attaching springs to the hospital beds of wounded soldiers.  This allowed bed-ridden patients to tone their muscles by using the resistance of the springs.

This was the prototype for the design that later became the Cadillac and Reformer. He eventually moved to America with his wife Clara where they opened the first Pilates studio housed in the same building as the NYC ballet.  This studio gained many devotees, especially dancers who felt it was the best method of preventing and recovering from injuries. Joe and Clara trained others to continue their method and Pilates spread throughout the world.  It became a crucial training adjunct to elite athletes of the NFL, NBA, NHL, Olympians and professional dancers and performers.  

When Hollywood celebrities caught on, the public began to pay attention and now it is available to anyone in thousands of cities and countries worldwide.