08/04/2019
Joseph Pilates found himself in England when WW1 broke out - some say he was traveling with his circus, others say he was there as a professional boxer and even owned a boxing gym - whatever the reason, he, along with all other German citizens, was interned by British authorities.
As weeks turned to years, he watched those around him crumble into a state of despair, their health and hope deteriorating. He noticed that the emaciated cats in the jail, despite a lack of food and meek conditions, remained springy and agile, while the men around him lay lifeless. Inspired by their resilience, he began to move, stretching his muscles, moving his joints... developing and refining what later became his “contrology” (now “Pilates”) system. The men in his cell block began to join in. Under Joes watchful eye they slowly but surely became as alert and agile as those cats and when a great influenza epidemic swept through England and the camp, killing thousands, not one of Joe’s trainees died. In fact, they left the camp healthier than they went in. .
After World War I, he went back to Germany where he collaborated with experts in dance and physical exercise, trained police officers in Hamburg, and developed the first of the apparatus inventions he dreamed up while interned. But he didn’t stay in Germany long... Word spread of the remarkable results he was seeing, and the German government began pressuring him to train the German army.
Not happy with the direction the German government was headed, he fled to the United States, land of free and home of the brave, to settle in under the bright lights of New York City, to realize his dream, open a gym and apply for more patents for his exercise apparatus inventions.
The rest is history.