A b o u t P i l a t e s

Joseph H. Pilates was born in 1880 near Dusseldorf, Germany. He was a visionary of his time. He overcame childhood illnesses- asthma, rickets, rheumatic fever by developing his method of exercise – first termed, “Contrology”. His system of exercise was shared and expanded in England where he was interred during WW1 as a German nationalist- his fellow inmates were taught the concepts and exercises today we call “matwork”. Joseph devised a method of movement for bedridden patients, while interred, using the hospital bed, the springs, straps and pulleys. The equipment used today still resembles the original by using spring resistance to create movement.