Born in Mönchengladbach, formerly known as Gladbach, in 1883, he grew up in poor circumstances as a weak, often sickly child. His father Friedrich was an enthusiastic gymnast and, despite being banned at the time, was passionate about boxing, which inspired Joseph even as a young boy.
Instead of playing with friends, he preferred to go into the forest and observe animals in their movements and was fascinated by how they moved elegantly without stiffness and with a lot of body tension and could sometimes jump very far.
Even as a boy, he dreamed of becoming a strong man.
Due to the poor hygienic conditions prevailing at the time, he lost several siblings as a baby. Out of pity, he was given an old anatomy book by a doctor who was treating the family, which he studied down to the smallest detail.
In contrast to the rather stiff and unnatural movements of gymnastics, he liked boxing better as the movements were more fluid and involved the whole body. But boxing was banned until 1908 and after that there was a lack of experienced teachers, role models and opponents.
As a teenager, he had become a strong young man through strength training (gymnastics included exercises with dumbbells and weights as well as exercises on the floor and equipment) and boxing with his father and brother. At the age of 16, he did an apprenticeship as a brewer and was more interested in the construction of the machines that were being developed at the time.
Despite good opportunities in the brewing industry, he saw his professional future in bodywork. The monotonous work for long hours without fresh air made no sense to him. His colleagues were already suffering from back pain at a young age, had weak muscles and were overweight.
He also observed his children's tireless muscle work as they moved and became stronger and stronger. He was impressed by the upright spine and the complete relaxation of the muscles during sleep. He was also fascinated by this in animals at the time.
He wanted to imitate the stages of movement development with exercises. He was ahead of his time because he recognized that adults, like children who learn this, need to strengthen their muscles again because they use them far too little or one-sidedly in everyday life.
After the death of his first wife, the children stayed with relatives and Joseph Pilates went to England in 1913. At the time, many Germans were working there as the pay was better and they wanted a better life. Joseph Pilates probably wanted to become a boxer in England. Boxing was very popular there at the time and you could earn money as a professional. He also claimed to have been active in a circus group.
However, with the outbreak of the First World War, Germans were considered enemies and were interned. In 1915, he was sent to the Isle of Men. To counteract the dreariness and poor conditions, various sports groups were formed. Joseph Pilates acted as a teacher and referee in a boxing group. He also had enough time to further develop his exercise program and he had enough fellow inmates to try it out on. He probably also worked in the infirmary as a rehabilitation therapist. It was probably there that he came up with the idea of strengthening the muscles of bedridden patients with featherbed springs.
He was released in 1919, returned to Germany and opened a boxing school in his home country. He continued to develop the exercises and equipment with his father and brother. In August 1922, he applied for a patent for his first device, the "Foot Corrector": "Device for the elimination or improvement of leg and foot faults and the like".
In addition to gymnastics exercises, he was also influenced by bodybuilding from the then famous weight training instructor Eugen Sandow, conscious breathing and alternating between tension and relaxation from the well-known Delsarte system and observations of children and animals. He probably also came into contact with Indian yoga, which was already relatively popular in Germany in the 1920s.
In 1923, he went to Hamburg and worked there as a self-defense instructor for the police. He had also studied jiu-jitsu, which was popular in Germany at the time and used muscle resistance to strengthen the body.
He also developed his second physical exercise device there, which later became known as the "Reformer". Even then, he worked with patients referred to him by well-known doctors who were enthusiastic about his method.
The equipment made his work as a teacher easier. Without the equipment, he had to push himself against the different parts of his clients' bodies when he did strengthening and stretching exercises with them. Spring tension was the most beneficial as he could simply use more or less spring tension according to the body's needs.
He was also an advocate of nudism, which even then had many supporters - according to the motto: clothing interferes with movement and restricts it. He was of the opinion that people need light and air when exercising.
Due to hyperinflation, hardship and hunger, his brother emigrated to the USA as early as 1922. After registering a patent for his exercise machine, he also left Germany by ship in 1926 due to the situation in Germany at the time and the hope of a liberal and modern America.
On the crossing, he met his future life partner Clara Zeuner, who was enthusiastic about his plans in New York.
They opened a studio and lived in the apartment next door at 939 8th Ave in Hell's Kitchen, near Broadway, which mainly housed immigrants because it was cheap.
He jogged through the city every morning in his swimming trunks, whatever the weather, and explored the area.
He knew Nat Fleischer, a well-known boxing journalist who was often on the lookout for talent in Germany, well and he also helped him to gain a foothold in NYC. Incidentally, Joseph Pilates recommended him to watch the talented Max Schmeling in a boxing match.
He helped numerous dance stars with injuries and soon became the most important address for rehab in New York. Mainly dancers, but also actors and normal people came to him despite the economic crisis. They were able to draw strength from Pilates.
His studio was adorned with large-format photo panels documenting his work. Each panel had its own theme and there were before and after photos.
The training looked different than it usually does nowadays. For the introduction, he or Clara, or dancers whom he let teach for free, worked with the clients. After a few lessons, they had to have memorized the exercises and trained independently. Every now and then, corrections were made and the repertoire expanded. Joe was quite strict and sometimes very impatient, Clara was gentler and had the patience to explain.
He gave numerous interviews, newspaper articles and appeared on television to promote his training program. Other devices followed and he wrote 2 books "Your Health" and "Return die Life Through Contrology". He has since named his method "Contrology".
Clara and he were not very business-minded. They were never in it for the money. Although they had a lot of customers thanks to their high profile through articles and reports, they had to pay a lot of money for new patents.
On October 9, 1967, Joseph Pilates died as a result of emphysema because he was a heavy cigar smoker.
After his death, the method spread, later under the name Pilates, first throughout the USA and then to the whole world through dancers from all countries and also through many fans from Hollywood.
The few who still worked with Pilates personally and learned from him are referred to as the elder. The second generation of teachers are those who were trained by Romana Kryzanowska (deceased in 2013), Joseph Pilates' best-known protégé. Many of today's instructors learned from Romana, whose program stands for a high quality standard and is close to the original method. But Jay Grimes (deceased 2024), who trained my Pilates mentor Lesley Logan, also ensured that important foundations were laid for future generations with his clarity and love of the Pilates method.
More than 50 years after his death, Joseph Pilates' vision is better known and more popular worldwide than he could probably ever have imagined.
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