Brief history

The inventor of this unique movement method and of the special Pilates apparatuses was Joseph H. Pilates, born in Mönchengladbach, Germany in 1883.
Pilates started to develop his unique exercises in the beginning of 1900. The Myth about Pilates is that he was a sickly child with illnesses like Rachitis and Asthma, but more likely he started to train in gymnastics to master his schoolmates teasing him for his uncommon last name.
He started to name his exercising method "Art of Contrology”. In other words: he controlled his body with his mind.
During the First World War, Pilates and many other men (healthy or wounded) were detained on the Isle of Jersey. That did not stop Pilates to continue his study in human movement.
He trained with help of his own special method, together with his fellow prisoners. At that time he used his own bodyweight to rehabilitate the camps patients.
When the inhabitants in camp survived the terrible flu-epidemic in 1918, people attributed it to the Training of Joe Pilates.
In 1926 Pilates left for New York. He started a studio in the same building where the New York City Ballet was housed. Loads of dancers immediately fell for his method and have used it ever since to keep their body in healthy shape.
 
Joseph Pilates trained his students until the end of his life together with his wife Clara.
Joseph Pilates died on the age of 86 as result of a lung-disease in 1967 (?!)