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Joseph Hubertus Pilates 1880 – 1967
The originator of Pilates’ exercise is German-born Joseph Pilates. He had experienced serious illness as a child and overcame his frailty and sickness by pursuing physical fitness. He did many different sports including gymnastics, martial arts and diving. He trained the police and armed forces in Germany and Great Britain and was interned during the First World War on The Isle of Man. During this time he helped to rehabilitate the wounded by turning the hospital beds into exercise machines and the patients under his care made exceptional recoveries. After the war, disillusioned with Germany, he went to live in America and opened fitness studios in New York where his exercise system became popular, especially amongst professional dancers.
He called himself a natural physician and firmly believed that physical exercise would counteract the stresses and strains imposed by the ever-increasing pace of life. Whilst he appreciated the need to work and the enjoyment some people derived from their work, he believed it was essential to incorporate diverse and pleasant recreational activities (preferably outdoors) to ease mental strain and relieve physical fatigue. He believed that the first requisite of happiness was physical fitness which would develop a uniformly balanced body and provide renewed vitality and spiritual enhancement.
He recommended proper diet and rest. He believed it was essential to improve blood circulation and encouraged wearing fewer items of clothing to encourage the blood flow around the body. He was an advocate of skin brushing using a stiff brush to rub over the body after bathing to unclog pores and remove dead skin which he believed eliminated toxins and enabled the skin to ‘breathe’. He was an advocate of outdoor living and fresh air.
He called his exercise system Contrology. It was an exercise system that could be done in the home without the need for any equipment. He promised that those who faithfully performed his exercises according to his strict instructions and 4 times weekly would achieve results within 3 months. He expected his exercises to be studied closely and learnt down to the last detail. Further exercises were not to be attempted until the current ones were mastered. You were also requested not to over-train, and adhere to the number of repetitions and frequency he advised.
He warned his students to be patient and persistent in their goal to be physically fitter and encouraged them to practice diligently and with a determination that nothing would permit them to ‘take a night off’. He said that to succumb to a momentary weakness of indecision was to make a wrong decision and that it was important to remain true to oneself. Whilst he was aware that the human body could successfully withstand more neglect than a piece of machinery could, he saw no good reason to tax the body unnecessarily or unreasonably since the result would only result in hurting the body.
He did not document his exercises and therefore made no provision for passing his exercise knowledge to anyone else. After he died, his wife documented the exercises and his students started to teach and pass on their knowledge to others, bringing about the next generation of teachers. With the passing on of knowledge from one generation of teacher to another, each teacher brought their own experience and interpretation of the exercises.
Joseph Pilates designed various pieces of equipment including The Reformer, The Cadillac, The Wunda Chair, The Ladder Barrel, The Half Barrel and The Spine Corrector. This equipment is used in Pilates’ studios with Reformer classes being very popular either on a 1-1 basis or as a group class.