Stretch Strength Control

"Physical fitness can neither be achieved by wishful thinking nor outright purchase"

Joseph Pilates

The late Joseph Pilates is the master and creator of the mind & body fitness regimen in which we refer to today as Pilates.

Born in 1880 near Dusseldorf Germany, Joseph Hubertus Pilates suffered from many health obstacles as a child. Susceptible to asthma and rickets, frail and thin, Pilates’ pillar of strength soon became his drive and determination to override his physical inadequacies.

By the age of 14 Pilates’ obsession with physical fitness was at its peak.  He read and studied anatomy books, musculature of the body, and ancient Roman and Greek exercise regimens and was keen in sports such as boxing, wrestling, diving, and skiing. He became a skilled gymnast, studied martial arts, and with such an impressive physique was even asked to pose as a model for anatomical sketches.

In the early 1900’s Mr. Pilates began to put together his own exercise system. He called his method ‘Contrology’, or the ‘Art of Control’. This means having your mind control the movements of the body in order to achieve the ultimate fitness goal.

Pilates often cited the quote by the early Greeks, ‘sane mind in a sound body’

Moreover he wanted to create a regime that would balance, strengthen, reduce stress, improve physical appearance and mental psyche in order to alleviate the pressures of a fast paced society. And that he did.

In 1918, he interned during the First World War and passed on his fitness expertise to his students.  When thousands had died of the influenza epidemic, Pilates camp were believed to have survived because of their advantage with his fitness guidance and training which helped by increasing their immunity to disease.
As a hospital orderly, Pilates tended to many patients who were bed ridden war casualties. Classic to the Pilates thinking, Joe devised ways for non-ambulatory patients to maintain physically active by removing bed springs and placing them above their beds’ headboards. Pilates prescribed spring based exercises (the prototype to the apparatus he would later build). This would allow for patients who were injured or missing limbs to remain mobile, helping them become stronger, and as most physicians observed, rehabilitated much faster than those that didn’t have the same advantage.

After the war, Joe returned to Germany, however his stay was short lived. He was instructed to train the new German army. Instead Pilates refused and decided to immigrate to America.On his journey to New York Pilates met his future wife, Clara, a nurse, with whom he shared the same health and fitness passions.

In 1926, they opened the first Pilates Studio at the address they shared with the New York City Ballet  The dance community flocked to Pilates’ studio to benefit from his fitness programmes which boasted beautiful posture, graceful movement and a strong, well toned body without bulk. Among them were the well known Martha Graham and George Balanchine. They would say, ‘He is the genius of the body.

By the 1940’s Joe’s Studio grew in popularity among many actors, singers, the wealthy…to which they all owed their beautifully sculpted bodies, trim waistlines, sharp posture and active minds which mastered the body.