Joseph H. Pilates

Born near Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1880, Young Joe suffered poor health as the result of many childhood ailments. In an effort to improve his own health he emarked on a program of pysical fitness, dilligently studying a wide variety of timeless fitness regiments. By the age of 14 he had achieved such remarkable results that he was posing for anatomical charts, and by his 20's he was competing in boxing, gymnastics, skiing and diving. Confined to an internment camp in England during WWI, he refined his excercise method and utilized it to rehab many patients. In 1926 he traveled to America and met his wife, Clara, on board the ship. Upon their arrival in New York, they opened their excercise studio and went to work sharing their method with variety of clients from performers.