Pilates History

The method was started by Joseph Hubertus Pilates, born in Germany in 1880. He was very frail and sickly as a child and his desire to overcome his limitations developed into a lifelong commitment and passion in body building and conditioning. By the age of 14 he was posing for anatomy charts which began his study of the human body. During his teenage years he was a diver, skier and gymnast. His motto was, "It is the mind that shapes the body".

In 1912 he left Germany to train as a boxer in England. There he worked as a circus performer and taught self-defense to Scotland Yard detectives. At the outbreak of World War I, during his internment, he was placed in an enemy alien camp.  Joseph Pilates began teaching fellow German nationals self defense and body building.  He was later transferred to the Isle of Man to work as a nurse. He applied his fitness

knowledge to help rehabilitate those injured in the war and sick internees. He started experimenting with springs by attaching them to hospital beds. This allowed patients to start applying movement and resistance to their muscles which seemed to hasten their recovery time.  This experience was his inspiration for formulation of the Universal Reformer.

After the war Joseph Pilates returned for a short while to Germany training the Hamburg Police force.  Unhappy with the political situation in his country, he left for America. On his voyage to America he met his wife Clara, and in 1923 they founded the Pilates studio in New York.

Joseph Pilates died in 1967. His work has continued to grow and evolve throughout the world.

Pilates Methodology  - - ->