A Brief History of Pilates

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Pilates was invented by Joseph Pilates in the early 20th century. After being terribly ill as a child, Joseph began studying Yoga, martial arts, boxing & weightlifting in his determination to reach peak physical condition. Born in Germany, he moved to England in 1912 where he began teaching martial arts/self-defense techniques and during World War I, he worked as a hospital orderly and helped the injured to recover by rigging up hospital beds with springs and straps to offer resistance and improve the muscular strength & endurance of his patients.

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In 1926 Joseph emigrated to New York, where he began teaching his techniques to dancers to help relieve them of their dance related injuries. He believed his techniques to be ahead of their time and could see the impact that modern lifestyles, along with poor posture and breathing was having on people's health.

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Joseph documented his techniques in his 1945 book Return to Life Through Contrology and believed his method was just the right balance between physical intervention and mental training.

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Contrology later became known as Pilates and Joseph's legacy lives on through methods passed down from his apprentices and through his book. The technique has developed over the years in line with modern advances in knowledge and through the different interpretations of the technique that exist all across the world.