What do you know about Pilates?
Did you know that a German invented it?
Inventor of the Pilates method (1883-1967)
Denise Steger (Linz am Rhein)
In 1929, Pilates opened his body training studio (Universal Gym) at 939 8th Ave, The Van Dyck Building. On his business cards, he gave his date of birth as 1880. It is not known why he made himself three years older, presumably to promote how fit you can be even at almost 50 years of age. The text on the cards read: ‘A MAN IS AS OLD AS HIS SPINE IS FLEXIBLE – A WOMAN AS OLD AS SHE LOOKS IN THE MORNING’.
The ‘Universal Gym’ in New York, run by Pilates.
Despite the world economic crisis, Pilates was able to make a great success of the studio, with athletes, business people and actors, including Catherine Hepburn (1929-1993) and Sir Lawrence Olivier (1907-1989), but it was mainly dancers who were enthusiastic about his training method. Among them were the pioneer of modern dance, Martha Graham (1894-1991), who founded the Martha Graham School of Dancing in Manhattan in 1926, and many stars of the New York City Ballet. During his 38-year career as studio manager, his client list included over 2,000 students. In the 1940s, a Canadian magazine classified the Pilates studio as ‘a high-class exercise salon’ due to the high fee of $10 per session. In addition to Clara, his niece Mary Pilates and Clara's niece Irene Zeuner-Zelonka assisted him.
In 1934, Pilates published his writing ‘Your Health’ and in 1945 ‘Return to life through Contrology’ (Return to life through ‘Contrology’), which describes the philosophy and principles of his method. They are based on the pursuit of whole-body health, in which body, mind and soul are in balance, which can be achieved through physical exercise, proper nutrition, hygiene, balanced sleep, plenty of outdoor exercise and a balance of work, leisure and relaxation. Through the exercises he developed, ‘Contrology’, mental strength and mental well-being are also developed. The special form of Pilates breathing, consciously performed during the exercises, allows the body to function optimally. As an ‘inner shower’, it is said to cleanse the body and ultimately lead to the rejuvenation and strengthening of the entire person.
A Pilates class at Jacob's Pillow University of the Dance, where Joseph Pilates taught between 1941 and 1951.
The equipment developed and patented by Pilates himself – there were over 20 of them – not only added an additional dimension of body strengthening and correction of posture to the so-called ‘mat training’, which consists of a series of 34 floor exercises, but was also used in rehabilitation. Pilates created a special exercise programme for injured people, such as dancers, and worked with these clients in a separate room. The success must have been considerable, because the orthopaedic surgeon Dr Henry Jordan adopted the Pilates training concept in his therapy, as did Dr James Garrick, founder of the first clinic for dance medicine.
Pilates held numerous lectures and courses for both doctors and students at the Chiropractic Academy, taught on US military bases and founded the health group called ‘Return to Life’. He documented his work extensively with photographs and film. 1939-1951, Pilates regularly taught at the summer camp for dancers ‘Jacob's Pillow’, Berkshire Mountains, where the pioneers of contemporary dance, such as Ted Shawn, and many students met. Joe and Clara owned a house there.
Joseph Hubertus Pilates treating a customer.
Pilates died of emphysema, which had apparently been bothering him for some time, at the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York on 9 October 1967, shortly before his 84th birthday. His urn and, later, Clara Zeuner's urn were buried in the Ferncliff Mausoleum in Hartsdale, New York.
Clara Zeuner continued to run the studio until 1972. After her death in 1976, it was taken over by the classical dancer and Pilates student Romana Kryzanowska (1923-2013) in 1977.
In the meantime, his students had spread the Pilates method worldwide, which in its further development split into different styles. Even today, many stars who are looking for fitness and figure-improving methods see Pilates as the ideal training and contribute to the popularity of his method. But the Pilates method has also been incorporated into modern sports science, physiotherapy and rehabilitation, where it has been supplemented and refined according to the latest findings.
Your Health; a corrective system of exercises that revolutionizes the entire field of physical education, New York 1934. New edition: Presentation Dynamics, Incline, NV 1998.
Return to Life Through Contrology, edited by Joseph H. Pilates and William John Miller, New York 1945, new edition: Presentation Dynamics, Incline, NV.
New edition of both works: A Pilates' Primer: The Millennium Edition, Presentation Dynamics, Incline, NV 2000-2005.
Geweniger, Verena/Bohlander, Alexander, Das Pilates-Lehrbuch, Berlin/Heidelberg 2012.
Kryzanowksa, Romana/Gallagher, Sean P. (ed.), Joseph H. Pilates Archive Collection, The Photographs, Writings and Designs, 2000.
Aparicio, Esperanza and Javier Pérez Pont, Hubertus Joseph Pilates, The Biography. HakaBooks.com e-ditions 2013. [online]
Geweniger, Verena/Bohlander, Alexander, Das Pilates-Lehrbuch, Berlin und Heidelberg 2013. [online]
Thomson, Bruce, Joseph Pilates life & biography. [online]
Wiggin, Mej, Joseph H. Pilates: The History. [online]
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