Digging Into Pilates

… I do Yoga and Pilates and the room is full of hotties, so I’m checking out the bodies and you know I’m satisfied…”

(Madonna – American Life 2003)

Developed in the 1920s by the legendary physical trainer and founder of the Pilates Studio, Joseph H. Pilates, The Pilates Method is an exercise system focused on improving flexibility and strength for the total body without building bulk. Not surprisingly, some of the first people to use the Pilates Method were dancers such as Martha Graham and George Balanchine.
The Pilates Method is not just exercise, however. It is a series of controlled movements engaging your body and mind, performed on specifically designed exercise apparatus and supervised by extensively trained teachers.
Born in Germany in 1880, Joseph H. Pilates had a lifelong interest in body conditioning. As a frail child dedicated to becoming stronger, he later grew to become an accomplished skier, diver, gymnast, and boxer.
While interned in England during World War I for his German citizenship, Joseph became a nurse. During this time, he designed exercise apparatus for immobilized patients by attaching springs to hospital beds. This system formed the foundation for his style of body conditioning and specialized exercise apparatus, which he brought to New York City when he opened the first Pilates Studio in 1926.
Currently, the Pilates Method is used internationally by individuals at all levels of fitness as well as by dance companies, Broadway shows, students at performing arts schools and universities, sports teams, and fitness enthusiasts at private health clubs and gyms.
Many famous people have stepped through the doors of studios, gaining a new outlook on fitness. Including actors such as Sharon Stone, Madonna, Julia Roberts, Courtney Cox, and Minnie Driver.