Joseph Pilates, the inventor of the Pilates method, was born in Germany in 1880. A childhood marked by illness convinced him of the importance of sports and personal fitness, leading him to develop his own methods for the improvement of bodily strength.

While in England, Joe, still a German citizen, was interned as an “enemy alien” during World War 1. During this time, Joe refined his ideas and trained other internees in his system of exercise, attaching springs to hospital beds, thus enabling bedridden patients to exercise against resistance, an innovation that led to a spring-based exercise system: the ancestor of the reformer.

Eventually, Joe emigrated to the United States in 1926, where he and his wife Clara opened a fitness studio in New York, sharing an address with the New York City Ballet. He focused his attention on core postural muscles, emphasizing balance and spinal strength. Joseph and Clara soon established a devout following in the local dance and the performing-arts community of New York. Joe continued to train clients at his studio until his death in 1967, at the age of 87.