Joseph H. Pilates

Joseph H. Pilates was born in 1880 in Düsseldorf, Germany. A small weak and sickly child suffering from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever; he was often tormented by older children. Unable to fight back, he embarked on a journey to overcome his weaknesses and achieve optimum fitness and health.

Pilate’s father was a prize-winning gymnast and his Mother a naturopath. At a young age he picked up an anatomy book and as he put it, “I learned every page..... I would move each part as I memorized it”. He studied both Eastern and Western forms of exercise including yoga, Zen meditation, and ancient Greek and Roman methodologies. By his early teens, his body was so fit and developed that he was posing as a model for anatomy charts.

In 1912 Pilates left Germany for England to train as boxer. While there, he trained police officers in the art of self defense, and also worked in the circus. During World War I, he was held along with other German citizens in a camp near Lancaster. During this time he trained other detainees in fitness and exercise and the beginnings of the Pilates method began to take form. Shortly after World War I, Pilates returned to Germany. While there, he was invited to train the German army, but he declined. Plates did not like the political direction Germany was taking and he decided to leave. On a ship to America he met his future wife Clara, a Kindergarten teacher and nurse who was suffering with arthritic pain. Pilates worked to heal her on their long trip. When they reached New York City, Clara and Joseph founded a studio and began training dance professionals and athletes of all types.

Pilates was a genius – and his ideas were 50 years ahead of their time. He didn’t just develop a brilliant approach to fitness, which includes over 500 exercises; he also engineered all the equipment. Today, thousands of people use the classical Pilates technique to move, feel and look better!

Pilates continued to teach in his studio and refine his method until his death in 1967.