Pilates' full name was Joseph Hubertus Pilates. He was born in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1880. He was a weak child plagued with asthyma, rheumatisms and rickets so all he could think about was how he could become stronger physically.
He began training in gymnastics and body building and in a very short time he became wonderfully fit. While working, as the bright minded boy he was, he decided that the bad posture which is pushed on us by the modern life (working environments etc) and that we didn't know how to properly breathe were the main reasons of health problems on earth and in the end, he invented a form of exercising-training. He also created the equipment, designed the specs and optimized the tuning of the equipment.
When he moved to England in early 1910s, he was a boxer, a circus performer and a self-defence teacher. When he was imprisoned with other germans during the first World War, he trained his fellow inmates in his unique practice and so was born the Pilates Method.
When the war was over Joseph wen to the US, while on the road (I mean, ship) he met the love of his life, Clara and they founded an exercise studio -there were no 'gym's at the time- in NYC and started to train their students. This practice went on for about 50 years and the Pilates method has gained more and more popularity over time. At first the method was named "Contrology", because it was about the controlling of the body by the mind but their followers made it known as Pilates' method.
In no time, the local dancing and performing communities were their faithful followers and they really took off after that.
Joseph Pilates has written a lot of books but the best of the bunch were Return to life through contrology, Your Health: A Corrective System of Exercising that Revolutionizes the Entire Field of Physical Education, and A Pilates' Primer : The Millennium Edition
Pilates lived a long, healthy life and died in 1967, when he was 87.
Sean de Sacque is a personal training and pilates exercise expert living in Canada. He is famous for his great trainer-trainee relationships and is teaching in a gym with his wife Rose. For their blog about pilates, you can check out http://pilates.rebitran.com
Source: www.isnare.com
