Joseph Pilates was born December 9, 1883 in Mönchengladbach (near Düsseldorf),
Germany. His Greek father was a prize-winning gymnast and his German mother was
said to be a naturopath.
As a child, Joseph had asthma and contracted rickets and rheumatic fever. He
was determined to overcome his ailments, and, at a young age, researched ways to
become bigger, stronger, and healthier. He educated himself in anatomy, bodybuilding, wrestling, yoga, gymnastics, and martial arts. Over time, he developed an almost
Adonis-like body. His physique was so developed that at the age of 14, he posed for
anatomy charts.
Joseph was enamored by the classical Greek ideals of a man, someone who was
balanced equally in body, mind, and spirit. He was convinced that the modern lifestyle,
bad posture, and inefficient breathing were the root of poor health. To combat these
problems, he designed a series of exercises that incorporated his vast knowledge of
the human body to correct muscular imbalances and improve posture, coordination,
balance, strength, and flexibility as well as to increase breathing capacity and organ
function.
In 1914, after World War I broke out, he was interned along with other German
nationals in a camp for enemy aliens in Lancaster, England. It was at this time that
he began devising a system of original exercises and called this regimen Contrology,
meaning the complete coordination of the body, mind, and spirit. During this time,
Joseph refined his ideas and trained others to perform his exercises. He rigged springs
to hospital beds, which allowed bedridden patients to exercise using the resistance
to create stability or mobility depending on the case. Following his release at the
war’s end in 1918, Joseph returned to Germany and continued to refine his fitness
methods. Word of his success grew and he was hired by the city of Hamburg to train
their policemen.
In 1926, Joseph immigrated to the United States. He met his future wife, Clara, on
the boat to New York City. Together they opened the first Contrology studio in Manhattan, in the same building as several dance studios. Joseph’s studio became the place
dancers went to rehabilitate their injuries and train. They were sent to him to be “fixed.”
Joseph was both inventive and resourceful and spent the rest of his life perfecting
the art of Contrology, now known as Pilates. He designed and crafted many pieces
of equipment that we still use today in Pilates studios and physical therapy facilities
around the world. Spring tension is used for resistance or assistance, straps hold feet
or hands, supports and pads hold the back, neck, and shoulders in correct alignment.
Pilates equipment is a great complement to the Pilates mat work, which is considered
more difficult for some people than Pilates exercises on the equipment. During Pilates
mat work you rely on your body’s own strength and flexibility to perform each move,
and the springs on the Pilates equipment provide both the assistance and resistance
needed for each of the Pilates exercises.
Joseph died in 1967 of advanced emphysema from smoking cigars for too many
years. Clara continued to teach and run the studio until she passed away in 1977.
The exercises they originally designed are still used as models for the work we do
today. Each exercise has a stability piece and a mobility piece, and the fluidity of each
movement increases endurance, breath control, strength, and flexibility. All key pieces
enhance the quality of movement for athletes and nonathletes alike. Pilates is one of
the only comprehensive exercise programs in which you work and stretch simultaneously instead of working out first and stretching after.
Today, millions of people use Pilates as not only a form of therapy, but also as a
main component of their training program. What a great testament to Joseph Pilates.
He really was someone who was ahead of his time.
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