Joseph Hubertus Pilates

(1883-1967)

Joseph Pilates was born in 1883 near Dusseldorf in Germany. His childhood was plagued with illness, as he suffered from rickets, asthma and rheumatic fever. This would often leave him feeling weak and unhealthy. But rather than feeling defeated, he used his experience and interest in physical activity to take him on a path towards fitness and health.

As a young man, he achieved success as a boxer and a gymnast while also becoming an accomplished skier and diver. There are many versions about how he ended up in the UK but when WW1 broke out in 1914, he was interned along with other German nationals in a camp in England. It was from here that he started to develop his system of exercises known as “Contrology”.

When he was transferred to another camp on the Isle of Man, he began to work with many injured internees. He started to invent equipment to rehabilitate by taking springs from beds and fixing them to the exercise apparatus- this would have looked like the earliest version of a reformer!

Eventually Joe and his wife Clara settled in New York in the 1920s , opening up a gym in the same building as several dance studios. It was this that allowed “Contrology” to become part of many dancers’ training and rehab work.