About Pilates
The group of exercises known today as Pilates was created by Joseph Hubertus Pilates who was born in Monchengladbach, near Dusseldorf, Germany in 1880. Mr. Pilates’ father was a prize winning gymnast and his mother was a naturopath, which no doubt influenced the man he was to become.
Born a small, sickly child, suffering from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever, Joseph became fascinated with the human body. A family physician gave him an old anatomy book with which he not only studied, but memorized. He would move and engage a specific muscle while noting its name and path of origin in the body. By the age of 14, he had transformed his frail body into a model of health and strength.
Mr. Pilates followed in his father’s foot steps and became a gymnast, while also finding success as boxer and circus performer. In 1912, he moved to England to continue his training as a boxer and to perform with a touring circus troupe.
In 1914, as WWI raged across Europe, Mr. Pilates along with other German Nationals and "enemy aliens" were interned at camps throughout England. In these camps he taught wrestling and boxing to his fellow internees, proudly proclaiming that they would leave the camps stronger than they went in. It was during this time, using his knowledge of the body, that he began inventing the exercises that would later become known as Pilates, or as he originally called it Contrology.
Being surrounded with many sick or injured internees, he began to teach them his exercises, rehabilitating and healing their bodies. Some of his "clients" were so badly off that, he needed to use his own strength to support their bodies as performed the exercises. Wanting to find another way of supporting them, he began to invent the equipment that is now used in Pilates. He took apart bed frames, using the springs for resistance, to create exercise equipment for those confined to their beds. This allowed them to continue to lay flat but still get the work their bodies needed to speed recovery.
After the war’s end, Mr. Pilates went back to Germany and was asked to train the New German Army. But unhappy with the way the political tide was turning at the time, he declined and instead moved to the United States in 1926.
In New York City, at 939 8th Avenue, he and his new wife, Clara, opened the very first Pilates studio. While Mr. Pilates always referred to his exercises as Contrology, it quickly become known as Pilates. People would say "I’m going to Pilates’" meaning "I’m going over to Joseph Pilates’ studio." The short-hand stuck.
It was at this studio that Mr. Pilates refined his exercises and equipment. Many famous choreographers of the time, including George Balanchine and Martha Graham, would send their dancers for strengthening, correction of imbalances, and rehabilitation from injuries. Though he was known for training many dancers, he also trained boxers, gymnasts, professional athletes and those who simply needed to get out from behind their desk and move their bodies.
Mr. Pilates was a pillar of health and had a chiseled, fine-tuned body well into his late 80's. It was never his intent to develop his body for vanity, but rather to have a strong body so he could enjoy all of life’s pleasures without chronic weaknesses or injuries. And he enjoyed his life! He smoked fine cigars, drank whiskey and enjoyed his time with women. He was often seen running through the snow-filled streets of Manhattan in nothing but his Speedo.
In January of 1967, there was a fire in the building which housed Mr. Pilates’ studio and the apartment where he and Clara lived. Stories differ as to exactly what happened that night. Some say Mr. Pilates rushed into the burning studio to save his equipment, but got trapped and had to be rescued by the firemen. Others say that, asleep in his bed, he inhaled too much smoke as it poured out of the studio and into the adjacent apartment. Either way, it is assumed that Mr. Pilates’ death was brought about by complications due to smoke inhalation. Joseph Pilates died in October of 1967, at the age of 87.
Clara Pilates continued to teach and run the studio until her death 10 years later.