About Pilates

Origins of Pilates

Joseph Pilates (pronounced Pi -lah-tes), a noted German physical culture guru, developed and refined his method - “the thinking person’s workout” - in 1920 to aid the rehabilitation of war casualties. Not approving of political developments in Germany he left for the United States where he established his physical fitness studio in New York.

Since then his method has had a major influence not only on most of the dance innovators in America and the UK, but with an astonishing roll of prominent people in cinema, theatre, music and athletics: in fact anyone whose stock in trade is the care of their bodies - people for whom vitality and beauty are a way of life.