History of Pilates
Joseph H. Pilates was born in Germany in 1883 . Pilates was a sickly child and suffered from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever. He dedicated his entire life to improving his physical strength. Besides skiing frequently, he began studying body-building, yoga, kung fu and gymnastics. Pilates came to believe that the "modern" life-style, bad posture, and inefficient breathing lay at the root of poor health. He ultimately devised a series of exercises and training-techniques and engineered all the equipment, specifications, and tuning required to teach his methods properly.
He moved to England in 1912, where he earned a living as a professional boxer, circus-performer, and self-defence trainer at police schools and Scotland Yard. The British authorities interned him during World War I along with other German citizens in an internment camp. It was here that he began refining and teaching his minimal equipment system of mat exercises that later became "Contrology".
After the war (WWI), he returned to Germany and collaborated with experts in dance and physical exercise. When he was pressured to train members of the German army, he left his native country, disappointed with its political and social conditions, and emigrated to the United States.
On the ship to America, he met his future wife Clara. The couple founded a studio in New York City and directly taught their students well into the 1960s. His method, which he and Clara originally called "Contrology," related to encouraging the use of the mind to control muscles. It focuses attention on core postural muscles that help keep the human body balanced and provide support for the spine. In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and of alignment of the spine, and strengthen the deep torso and abdominal muscles. His exercise regimen built flexibility, strength and stamina.
Joseph Pilates wrote several books, including Return to Life through Contrology and Your Health.
Joseph Pilates died in 1967 at the age of 83 in New York
"In 10 sessions you'll feel the difference, in 20 you'll see the difference and in 30 you'll have a whole new body".
Quote from Return to Life through Contrology by Joseph Pilates
He moved to England in 1912, where he earned a living as a professional boxer, circus-performer, and self-defence trainer at police schools and Scotland Yard. The British authorities interned him during World War I along with other German citizens in an internment camp. It was here that he began refining and teaching his minimal equipment system of mat exercises that later became "Contrology".
After the war (WWI), he returned to Germany and collaborated with experts in dance and physical exercise. When he was pressured to train members of the German army, he left his native country, disappointed with its political and social conditions, and emigrated to the United States.
On the ship to America, he met his future wife Clara. The couple founded a studio in New York City and directly taught their students well into the 1960s. His method, which he and Clara originally called "Contrology," related to encouraging the use of the mind to control muscles. It focuses attention on core postural muscles that help keep the human body balanced and provide support for the spine. In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and of alignment of the spine, and strengthen the deep torso and abdominal muscles. His exercise regimen built flexibility, strength and stamina.
Joseph Pilates wrote several books, including Return to Life through Contrology and Your Health.
Joseph Pilates died in 1967 at the age of 83 in New York
"In 10 sessions you'll feel the difference, in 20 you'll see the difference and in 30 you'll have a whole new body".
Quote from Return to Life through Contrology by Joseph Pilates