Joseph Pilates: Father Of The Pilates Movement
Kerri Stalton
They often say that every “overnight success” is usually five
years in the making…Well Pilates burst on the scene over the
last decade like the new kid on the block who just happened to
be over 90 years old.
Joseph Pilates invented the ingenious exercise system due to
the same reason most things get invented: necessity. Born in
Germany in 1880, Joe was an extremely sickly child and in an
attempt to improve his overall health and physical well-being
he extensively studied Eastern and Western exercise regimens.
Needless to say, it was certainly helpful to young Joe that his
father was an award-winning gymnast and his mother was a
naturopath. Aside from studying the human anatomy in obsessive
detail (thanks to a book given to young Joe by his family
physician), yoga, skiing, diving, gymnastics, and wrestling
were among the many disciplines he studied.
With such a diverse and eclectic physical education background,
it was only natural for Joe to take the best of all the systems
and devise his own unique system known as the Pilates Method.
Heading to England in 1912, Joe began to work as a self-defense
instructor for the famous Scotland Yard as well as becoming a
boxer. Among the other positions Joe held to help make ends
meet, he also found himself becoming a circus performer and
actually touring with his brother as Greek Statues.
However, World War I soon broke out and Joe was “detained” due
to his German genealogy. While in an interment camp, Joe began
to teach his form of physical fitness to the other detainees.
It didn’t take long before those in charge noticed something
fairly remarkable; the detainees who were studying with Joe
appeared to be more resistant to a particularly nasty strain of
influenza circulating around the camp.
After World War I ended and Joe was released, he returned to
Germany and began training the Hamburg police. During this time
he managed to connect with Rudolf von Labon, a man famous for
his knowledge and advances in movement analysis; Rudolf began
to incorporate a number of Joe’s exercises into his own
regimens.
In 1925 Joe received a request to train the New German Army.
His determent during World War I, plus his dislike for the
political leanings of the new German government, made him
politely refuse. Soon after this refusal, Joe and his wife
immigrated to the United States where they opened a wildly
successful dance studio. Many of Joe’s exercises were
incorporated into the training of the dancers.
Unlike so many of the exercise programs today, Pilates is not a
fad. Having been in existence, in one form or another, for the
better part of a century, it certainly has an established track
record. Realistically, nearly all Pilates students can trace
their genealogy back to its originator, Joe, by finding out who
trained the trainer who trains them. This is almost unheard of
in current exercise regimens and just goes to show one more way
in which Pilates is unique and refreshing.
About The Author: Kerri Stalton is a featured writer for
http://www.reformingpilates.com/
- a great site to learn about
the benefits of pilates.
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