Joseph Hubertus Pilates (1883–1967) developed a system of exercise he called Contrology, built on control, concentration, breath and flowing movement.
Early life and wartime
Born in Germany, Joseph Pilates moved to England in 1912, where he worked as a self-defence trainer. During the First World War he was interned as a German national, and it was there that he refined his ideas and coached fellow internees. He even rigged springs to hospital beds so bedridden patients could exercise against resistance, the seed of the spring-loaded equipment, like the Reformer and Cadillac, used in studios today.
Dancers and New York
Back in Germany after the war, his exercises were taken up by leading figures in modern dance. In 1926 he emigrated to the United States, meeting his future wife Clara on the voyage, and together they opened a studio in New York. Dancers flocked to it, and choreographer George Balanchine sent ballerinas from the New York City Ballet to train with him.
A method that outlived its founder
Joseph Pilates died in 1967 at 87. Clara kept the studio running, and a generation of his students, among them Romana Kryzanowska, Kathy Grant, Lolita San Miguel, Carola Trier, Eve Gentry and Ron Fletcher, opened studios and passed the method on. By the late 1980s Pilates had gone mainstream, and today millions of people practise it worldwide.
What it means for you
Joseph believed people should reach their physical prime much later in life than we expect. At Pilates Central, Eden carries that idea forward: reformer, Cadillac and mat work that build strength, flexibility and control at any age.