Index:-
Bullied Child
Anatomic Model of Excellence
Early Adulthood: Boxer, Gymnast, Skier, Diver
Greek Statue Act
War Years Internment: Pilates the Hospital "Nurse-Physiotherapist"
Training the Hamburg Military Police
Moved to America at age 45(and met and married Clara)
The first Pilates Studio was surrounded by Dance Studios
40 Golden years of the Pilates Bio
Pilates Biography, Publications, Philosophy
Flamboyant Ending?
I.C. Rapoport: Photographic Interview
Joseph Pilates Legacy
Joseph Pilates Biography Quotes
Biography of Joseph Pilates Resources
Summary:-
Pilates was enamored of the classical Greek ideal of a man who is balanced
equally in body, mind, and spirit. He came to believe that our modern life-style,
bad posture, and inefficient breathing were the roots of poor health. His answer
to these problems was to design a unique series of life enhancing physical exercises
that help to correct muscular imbalances and improve posture, coordination,
balance, strength, and flexibility, as well as to increase
breathing capacity and organ function.
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
The Bullied Child:-
Joe was born in Mönchengladbach, a small town near Duesseldorf, Germany, in 1880.
The Biography of his parents would make interesting reading in itself...
Joseph's father was a prize-winning gymnast of Greek origin - hence the Pilates
family name (the original Greek name was spelt "Pilatu").
His mother was German, a naturopath. Naturopaths believe in stimulating the body
to heal itself, and it is likely that his mother's healing philosophy coloured his
own approach to therapeutic exercises.
Pilates was skinny, sickly child. He suffered from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever.
Older boys would taunt him and call him "Pontius Pilate, killer of Christ". He was
so skinny that he could not fight back and it was these conditions that caused him
to begin his life journey to fitness and health.
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
turns into an Anatomic Model of Excellence:-
A family physician gave him a discarded anatomy book: "I learned every page, every
part of the body; I would move each part as I memorized it. As a child, I would lie
in the woods for hours, hiding and watching the animals move, how the mother taught
the young." He studied both Eastern and Western forms of exercise including yoga, Zen,
and ancient Greek and Roman regimens. By the time he was 14 he had developed his body
to the point that he was modelling for anatomy charts!
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
Early Adulthood: a boxer, gymnast, skier and diver.
Growing up in Germany, he achieved some success as a boxer and a gymnast in addition
to being a skilled skier and diver.
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
In his 30's he moved to England, performed a Greek statue act:-
In 1912 he went to England for further training
as a boxer. He found employment there as a circus performer. By 1914 he had become a
star and toured England with his troupe - he and his brother (presumably this was Fred Pilates: read about
Fred's daughter Mary
), performed a Greek statue act!!!!
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
During the War Years, his Life was spent as a Hospital "Nurse-Physiotherapist":-
In 1914 after WWI broke out he was interned along with other German nationals in a
"camp" for enemy aliens in Lancaster. There he taught wrestling and self-defence,
boasting that his students would emerge stronger than they were before being interned.
It was here that he began devising his system of original exercises that later became "Controlology".
He was transferred to another camp on The Isle of Man where he became something of a
nurse and worked with many internees who suffered from wartime diseases and incarceration.
He then began devising equipment to rehabilitate them, taking the springs from the beds and
rigging exercise apparatus for the bedridden! In 1918, a terrible epidemic of influenza swept
the world, killing millions of people, tens of thousands in England. None of Joe's followers
succumbed even though the camps were the hardest hit! To me this part of Joseph's
biography re-inforces how adversity can develop a man. Previous to his internment camp life,
Joe was a circus performer and part time fitness and defence trainer. Subsequently, it could be said that
Joseph Pilates had become a "Nurse-Physiotherapist", with a powerful and revolutionary approach to life enhancing
therapeutic exercise. Joseph called this approach "Controlology", and explained it fully in his book
"Return to Life through Controlology".
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
Training the Hamburg Military Police:-
After the war Joe returned to Germany and began training the Hamburg Military Police
in self-defence and physical training as well as taking on personal clients.
He said, "I invented all these machines. Began back in Germany, was there until 1925
I used to exercise rheumatic patients. I thought, why use My strength? So I made a machine
to do it for me. Look, you see it resists your movements in just the right way so those
inner muscles really have to work against it. That way you can concentrate on movement.
You must always do it slowly and smoothly. Then your whole body is in it."
It was at this time that he met Rudolf von Laban, a famous movement analyst, who is said
to have incorporated some of Joe's theories and exercises into his own work.
In 1925 Pilates was invited to train the New German Army but because he was not happy with the
political direction of Germany he decided to leave. The Last Half of the "Life of Pilates Bio" was spent in America...
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
Moved to America at age 45, (and healed Clara's arthritis and married her)! -
On the urging of boxing expert Nat Fleischer
and with the aid of Max Schmelling, Pilates decided to move to the U.S. It was en route
to America that Joe met Clara who was to become his second wife (there is really
no information available about his first wife). She was a kindergarten teacher
who was suffering from arthritic pain and Joe worked with her on the boat to heal
her and give her a new lease of life.
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
The first Pilates Studio was surrounded by Dance Studios:-
Upon arriving in New York City he and Clara opened a gym at 939 Eighth Ave, in the same
building as several dance studios and rehearsal spaces. It was this proximity
that made "Controlology" such an intrinsic part of the life, rehab and training of many dancers:
They were sent to Joe to be "fixed".
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
40 Golden years of the Pilates Bio - at the Joseph Pilates Studio for Controlology!
In the Pilates biography, 1926 until 1966 were the golden years -
From 1939 to 1951 Joe and
Clara went every summer to Jacob's Pillow, a well known dance camp in the
Berkshire Mountains. He was a friend and teacher to many renowned dancer/choreographers,
and many required their dancers to go to Joseph. One - Hanya Holm - even incorporated Joe's
exercises into her students' lessons. Joseph counted many socialites, plumbers and doctors,
(just to list a few), as his clients as well.
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
Pilates Biography, Publications, Philosophy:-
In order to learn more of Joseph Pilates' philosophy and biography, you need to read his books.
They are still in print, and make good reading:-
- Your Health: A Corrective System of Exercising That Revolutionizes the Entire Field of Physical Education
(1934) by Joseph H. Pilates and Judd Robbins (Editor)
- Pilates' Return to Life through Controlology.
(1945) Joseph H. Pilates, William J. Miller, Judd Robbins (Editor)
(contains a set of 34 classic Pilates mat Exercises).
Joseph Pilates was something of a health guru. - Nevertheless,
he was renowned for liking cigars, whiskey, and women. He was the life of many parties, and was
to be seen running on Manhattan streets, in the dead of winter, in his habitual "bikini bottom"
training attire! -
He believed in fitness supporting life's rich goals.
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
A Flamboyant Ending?
No! - As always, the truth is never so exciting as the myth. The 86 year old Joseph Pilates
did not charge into a burning smoke filled studio to rescue valuables, and firemen did
not find him hanging from burning floor joists! The following is a
quote by Pilates "Elder"
Mary Bowen :-
"The Fire" - People often ask me "Did Joe Pilates die in a fire?" One woman in
London where I was giving a workshop at the Pilates Foundation of UK last May
said she had read that it was so in The New York Times. To set the record
straight - no, Joe did not die in a fire. He died two years later, in 1967,
of advanced emphysema from smoking cigars for too many years (which he took
up out of disappointment that he wasn't taken more seriously by the powers
that be, especially physicians, during his lifetime). His personal friend,
Evelyn de la Tour, shared that with me.
There was a fire in 1965 in the storage room at the back of his floor. The
studio and his and Clara's apartment were in the front of the building and
were undamaged. Bruce King had an apartment near the storage room. He had to
move out due to severe smoke damage. The day after the fire Joe went to inspect
the extent of loss to his possessions in the storage room and one of his feet
fell through a hole in the floor scrapping his leg. That was the extent of his
injury from the fire.
I.C. Rapoport's Photographic Interview
That Joe Pilates had asthma is confirmed by this story:
"[In October, 1961,] Sports Illustrated arranged for me to meet with Joe Pilates in his second floor studio. I was 24 and
weighed 145 pounds. He was thirty pounds heavier, several inches shorter and 56 years older. I can still
recall his handshake - I sensed he could bend me like a pretzel if he cared to. Within a few minutes I was
photographing Joe bending himself into one. His gymnasium attracted beautiful people: ballerinas, modern dancers
and actors who would subject themselves to his authoritarian control. Though he personally demonstrated and
explained the mechanical contraptions designed to strengthen and stretch the body, the clouds of forty years
dimmed his voice. Yet, I can remember him telling stories about Germany and how he outwitted the Brown Shirts
on several occasions. Before we parted he encouraged me, for everlasting youth, to practice Contrology. It took
me 39 years to follow his advice."
-
Joseph Pilates died in October 1967, at the age of 87.
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
The Joseph Pilates Fitness Craze
Clara Pilates, regarded by many as the more superb
teacher, continued to teach and run the studio until the end of her life 10 years later, in 1977.
Initially, Hollywood celebrities discovered Pilates via
Ron Fletcher's studio in Beverly Hills.
The Pilates fitness craze presumably blossomed from there.
Joseph called his style of fitness "Controlology", but the public call it simply "Pilates".
Where the stars go, the media follow, and when the media follow, fashion follows!.
It was the late 1980s, and the Pilates fitness boom started. "I'm fifty years ahead of my
time," Joe claimed - and he was right. No longer the workout of the elite, Pilates has
truly returned to life and entered the mainstream of fitness, and has even
established itself as a physiotherapeutic
modality in its own right:
(Pilates Article by Lynne Robinson).
Today, perhaps ten million people world wide regularly practice
"Pilates", and the numbers are growing! Its a great tribute to the Pilates Life and Biographical Life Story!
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
The Real Joseph Pilates Legacy:-
Joe Pilates' greatest legacy remains his 34 Contrology Exercises.
Many modern Pilates schools teach them differently.
Very often, the exercises lose something in the translation. For example: the editor (Bruce Thomson) has
considerable
problems with tight muscles and trigger points. Many supposedly sound physiotherapeutic interpretations
of Joe's work do not fully cater for the problem of tight muscles. But the Joe Pilates 34 exercises do.
They do this by working the muscles over their longer range, and by "finding the stretch".
Modern interpretors say that Joe's exercises are too difficult in their original form. But Joe had an
answer for this:-
"Uncle Joe said when you did the hundred, you started with your legs 2 inches off the floor.
If you could only do 10 repetitions, that's all you did that day....until you could do 11."
Quote: Mary Pilates, Joseph's niece.
Source: Personal Communication, from
(Fran Perel: Parkland Pilates, Coral Springs South Florida)
(Editor's note: some modern interpretations of the Pilates 34 exercises are in fact preferable to the originals.
Always keep an open mind - always talk to a variety of Pilates instructors.
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
Joseph Pilates Quotes:-
- The Pilates Method: "my work is 50 years ahead of its time".
- Joseph's definition of
physical fitness: "the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body
with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily and satisfactorily performing
our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure -
Everything should be smooth, like a cat. [The exercises are
done lying, sitting, kneeling, etc]... to avoid excess strain on the heart and lungs... natural movements
... with the emphasis on doing and being".
- "A few well-designed movements, properly performed in a balanced sequence, are
worth hours of doing sloppy callisthenics or forced contortion."
- "Patience and persistence are vital qualities in the ultimate successful accomplishment
of any worthwhile endeavor."
- The goal of Controlology (Pilates Method) ..... "the attainment and maintenance
of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind and the ability to perform life's
daily activities with zest and ease."
- "I invented all these machines. Began back in Germany, was there
until 1925 used to exercise rheumatic patients. I thought, why use My strength?
So I made a machine to do it for me. Look, you see it resists your movements in
just the right way so those inner muscles really have to work against it. That
way you can concentrate on movement. You must always do it slowly and smoothly.
Then your whole body is in it."
- In explaining Controlology's guiding principle, Pilates liked to quote Schiller:
'lt is the mind itself which builds the body'.
- "I must be right. Never an aspirin. Never injured a day in my life. The whole
country, the whole world, should be doing my exercises. They'd be happier."
- Joseph Hubertus Pilates, in 1965, age 86
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
Biography of Joseph Pilates Resources
Joseph Pilates Biography © Bruce Thomson, EasyVigour Project
Pilates Biography - Return to Top
|
|
The Pilates Biographical Picture Gallery
Joseph Pilates, age 59: demonstrating Classical Greek Perfection...
Pilates with his niece (daughter of Fred Pilates, who lived in St. Louis Missouri)...
Pilates' picture, sent to his niece, Mary
Picture source:
Parkland Pilates Museum, Coral Springs, South Florida
Pilates the Showman explaining another piece of apparatus...
Pilates out Skiing, complete with one of the Cuban Cigars that eventually took his life.
Pilates in his late seventies. Able to squat and still full of Life...
Pilates, age 82. This picture epitomises the Pilates life and bio!
Purchase the Pilates Classics...
Brook Silers gives an excellent "do-able' presentation of the original
Pilates Matwork...
Available from this website...
|
Home Page|Site Map & Key Word Search|What's New|Sales & Downloads|Contact
Author|Play Music
