Discover the History of Pilates

The history of pilates is a very inspiring tale of success. Born in Germany in 1880, Pilates' sickly childhood inspired him to become healthy and strong. By the age of 14 he was a body-builder and sports enthusiast.

At 32 Pilates was a boxer, circus performer and self-defence instructor living in England.

During World War I he also worked as a hospital orderly, and began using springs attached to hospital beds to help disabled patients strengthen and stretch their muscles, which led to the Pilates re-formers used today.

Pilates relocated to New York in 1926 and established an exercise studio.

Pilates' popularity has recently increased as celebrities share their ‘secret’ of how pilates strengthened their ‘core’ and created a more shapely fit body.

When designing his exercise system, Joseph Pilates followed six principles:

1) Control

2) Concentration

3) Centering

4) Breath

5) Precision

6) Flow

Control: The focus on control helps prevent making careless movements of no benefit

Concentration: Focusing the mind on what the body is doing, is key to enabling people to transform their bodies.

Centering: Developing a strong ‘core’ by working the deep, small core muscles of the abdominals, gluteals, and low back. The core is also commonly called the powerhouse

Breath: Pilates breathing uses breath to help facilitate smooth movements. Pilates Breathing also helps establish tempo in some of the exercises.

Participants are trained to breathe into the back of their rib cage (lateral breathing) keeping ribs the same distance from hips and sliding them out to the side and back. Exhaling through pursed lips during exertion, while contracting abdominal muscles and stabilizing the spine to prevent injury.

Precision: Precision is an important aspect of Pilates exercises. Participants are encouraged to perfect each movement as much as possible, using efficient accurate movements, before moving on to the next level.

When performing Pilates your first concern should be doing the movements correctly and noticing the sensations in your body, rather than how many repetitions you can do.

Flow: In Pilates, one movement flows seamlessly into the next, encouraging a meditative feel, leaving participants feeling as if they are poetry in motion.

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