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Joesph Hubertus Pilates 1880 - 1967 History and Rare Photos
 The Pilates method
of exercise was created by Joseph Pilates, who was born in 1880 near Dusseldorf, Germany. Joe was a sickly child, suffering
from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever. He overcame his physical limitations with exercise and body building, becoming a
model for anatomical drawings at the age of 14. He became accomplished in many sports, including skiing, diving and gymnastics.
Joe went to England in 1912, where he worked as a self-defense instructor for detectives at Scotland Yard. At the outbreak of World War I, Joe was interned as an "enemy alien" with other German nationals. During his internment, Joe refined his ideas and trained other internees in his system of exercise which he called Contrology. He rigged springs to hospital beds, enabling bedridden patients to exercise against resistance, an innovation that led to his later equipment designs. An influenza epidemic struck England in 1918, killing thousands of people, but not a single one of Joe's trainees died. This, he claimed, testified to the effectiveness of his system. After his release, Joe returned to Germany. When Joe was asked to teach his fitness system to the German army, he decided to leave Germany for good. Intuition served him well. In 1923, he emigrated to the United States. During the voyage he met Clara, whom he later married. Joe and Clara opened a fitness studio in New York, with Joe in the forefront and devoted Clara, equally as gifted, as Joe's backup. They were a team and complemented each others strengths. Pilates Gains Popularity By the early 1960s, the Pilates' could count among their clients many New York dancers and celebrities. In fact, "Pilates" was becoming popular outside of New York as well. As the New York Herald Tribune noted in 1964, "in dance classes around the United States, hundreds of young students limber up daily with an exercise they know as a pilates, without knowing that the word has a capital P, and a living, right-breathing namesake." Joe continued to train clients at his studio until his death in 1967 at the age of 87. "I'm fifty years ahead of my time," Joe once claimed. He was right. No longer the workout of the elite and professional dancers, Pilates has entered the fitness mainstream. Today, five million Americans practice Pilates, and the numbers are continuing to grow.
"Sports Illustrated arranged for me to meet with Joe Pilates
in his second floor studio. I was 24 and weighed 145 pounds. He was thirty pounds heavier, several inches shorter and 56 years
older. I can still recall his handshake - I sensed he could bend me like a pretzel if he cared to. Within a few minutes I
was photographing Joe bending himself into one. His gymnasium attracted beautiful people: ballerinas, modern dancers and actors
who would subject themselves to his authoritarian control. Though he personally demonstrated and explained the mechanical
contraptions designed to strengthen and stretch the body, the clouds of forty years dimmed his voice. Yet, I can remember
him telling stories about Germany and how he outwitted the Brown Shirts on several occasions. Before we parted he encouraged
me, for everlasting youth, to practice Contrology. It took me 39 years to follow his advice." -
I.C. Rapoport
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