Next week marks the 141st birth anniversary of our founder, Joseph Pilates! To celebrate, I offer you this fun little get-to-know-Joe quiz.
Pilates is named after its founder, Joseph Pilates. He was:
- born Joseph Hubertus Pilates on December 9, 1883, in Mönchengladbach, Germany. His Greek-born father, Heinrich Friedrich Pilates, was a metal worker and enthusiastic gymnast, and his German-born mother was a housewife and naturopath.
- somewhat sickly as a child and vowed to make himself healthy
- a student of various forms of exercise and wellness, from Greek and Roman exercise regimens to Eastern practices of yoga and Zen meditation
Pilates emigrated to England in 1912 where he:
- was a boxer
- was a circus acrobat
- taught self-defense to Scotland Yard detectives
Joseph was sent to an internment camp on the Isle of Man during WWI. This is where he:
- started developing a new approach to exercise and body-conditioning that he called Contrology
- acted as a nurse and attached springs to hospital beds so that patients could start toning their muscles even while they were still bed-bound
- named this apparatus the Universal Reformer for “universally reforming the body”
- (ok, ok, the reformer as we know it would come later, but this was where it started!)
This early Cadillac looks a lot like a hospital bed, doesn’t it?!?
Pilates moved to New York in 1923 and opened his first studio. Contrology was:
- an instant hit, particularly among dancers such as Martha Graham and George Balanchine
- mental as well as physical conditioning in which individuals could work their bodies to their full potential. (Pilates liked to quote Schiller: ‘lt is the mind itself which builds the body.’)
- founded on six principles of concentration, control, center, flow, precision, and breathing
- known for its founder, who wore his exercise briefs wherever he wanted!
Pilates designed other apparatus, including the Cadillac, Wunda Chair, High Chair, Spine Corrector (or Arc), Ladder Barrel, and Pedi-Pole. Pilates apparatus trivia:
- The first Wunda Chair was able to convert into a piece of regular furniture.
- Pilates was a beer drinker and was inspired by a beer barrel and its metal rings for the ladder barrel.
- After creating a new piece of equipment, a client said, “Hey Joe, is that your new Cadillac?” The name stuck!
- He patented a total of 26 apparatuses in his lifetime. (here are links to past blogs on the: chair, reformer, Cadillac, barrel/bodhi/other equipment)
If you answered “all of the above” to all of the above, you got 100%. Good job! Joe would be so proud of you for taking care of yourself just like he did his whole life.
Enjoy this little animated history of Pilates. :)
