Pilates Method

Pilates is a form of physical fitness that was developed during the early 20th century by one Joseph Pilates. It was originally named The Art of Contrology as it encourages use of your mind to control your muscles. From here it evolved into an exercise program that helps to keep the body balanced and provide full support for the spine as it pays particular attention to the core postural muscles.

The Pilates Method came about during the first World War, when Joseph Pilates was placed under internment, along with many other German nationals in the UK. He was a trained nurse in Germany and had began to look into how bed-ridden patients could be rehabilitated after the 1918 influenza epidemic. During this period he shared with his fellow internees the exercises he had developed over 20 years of self study.

From here he developed a series of movements that could easily be done within the confined area of the camp. These exercises are known as Pilates mat exercises nowadays.

Joseph Pilates strongly believed that both physical and mental health were necessary for full wellbeing, and thus the Pilates method came into being. The Pilates method, it has been claimed, is a method of total body conditioning that helps with correct alignment, concentration, control, centering, prescision, and breathing. These are the main principles that are maintained and used in the Pilates method to this day.

As mentioned previously, the Pilates method does not involve lots of repetitions, but uses fewer and more precise movements which require more control. The most frequent form of Pilates exercises involve mat work, and involve calisthenic motions that are done without any weights or apparatus, just on a padded mat.

From the mat work came the design of five major pieces of equipment. Even though the two elements of mat exercises and equipment exercises are often taught separately now, they were always intended to be combined.