Who was Joseph Pilates

Joseph H. Pilates was born 9 December 1883 in Germany. Growing up as a sickly child, he dedicated his entire life improving his physical strength. He was introduced by his father to gymnastics, body-building and martial arts and by the age of 14, he was posing for anatomical charts. Pilates believed that the "modern" life-style, bad posture, and inefficient breathing lay at the roots of poor health. He ultimately created a series of exercises, and engineered the equipment, the specifications, and tuning required to teach his method properly.

During World War I, the British authorities interned Joseph Pilates. There, he began to train his fellow inmates in fitness, refining and teaching his minimal-equipment system of mat exercises that later became known as "Contrology". Some of the early use of Pilates's exercises and equipment included rehabilitation of veterans immobilized in bed by serious war injuries.

Around 1925, Pilates immigrated to the United States and on the ship to America, he met his future wife Clara. The couple founded a studio in New York City and taught and supervised their students well into the 1960s. "Contrology", encouraged the use of the mind to control muscles, focusing attention on core postural muscles that help keep the body balanced. Pilates exercises taught awareness of breath, alignment of the spine by strengthening the deep torso and abdominal muscles. Joseph and Clara Pilates soon established a devoted following in the local dance and performing-arts community of New York.

It is in this period that he will conceive and build most of his apparatus: Cadillac, Reformer, Wunda Chair, Ladder Barrel, Baby Arch…

In 1967, Joseph Pilates died in New York, aged 83.