Joseph H. Pilates was born near Dusseldorf, Germany in 1880. He was a sick child suffering from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever. Unable to be physical at a young age he studied Eastern and Western philosophies on exercise. From this he began to develop his own system of exercises which he called 'Contrology'. By the age of 14 he was posing for anatomical charts and had become a skier, diver and a gymnast.
In 1912 he went to England to become a boxer. He was interned during World War 1 and trained his fellow interns in his system of exercises. He boasted later that none of these interns succumbed to the influenza epidemic of that time. Pilates also began to build the beginnings of the equipment we know today to rehabilitate interns with wartime diseases.
After the war, Joe moved back to Germany where he trained the Hamburg City Police and when approached by the government to train the New German Army he decided to leave for America. So, in 1925 he travelled over to America on a boat where he met his wife, Clara.
Joe and Clara set up a studio in New York and Pilates became popular amongst the famous names of the dance, theatre and writing community of that time.
Pilates continued to teach his method of 'Contrology' for several years until his studio burnt down. He attempted to save his equipment from the fire and eventually died a year later, some believe from smoke inhalation, in 1967 at age 87. His wife Clara continued his work and he also passed his knowledge onto a few of his students, some of whom are still teaching today. Excerpts quoted from "Return To Life Through Contrology", Joseph H. Pilates & William John Miller, The Christopher Publishing House.