Joseph Hubertus Pilates was a German physical trainer, writer, and inventor.
17 Facts About Joseph Pilates
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Joseph Pilates is credited with inventing and promoting the Pilates method of physical fitness.
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Joseph Pilates patented a total of 26 apparatuses in his lifetime.
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Joseph Hubertus Pilates was born on 9 December 1883 in Monchengladbach, Germany.
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Joseph Pilates's father, Heinrich Friedrich Pilates, was a metal worker and enthusiastic gymnast, and his mother was a housewife.
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Joseph Pilates suffered from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever, and he dedicated his entire life to improving his physical strength.
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Joseph Pilates was introduced by his father to gymnastics and body-building, and to martial arts like jiu-jitsu and boxing.
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Joseph Pilates ultimately devised a series of exercises and training techniques, and engineered all the equipment, specifications, and tuning required to teach his methods.
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Joseph Pilates was originally a gymnast and bodybuilder, but when he moved to England in 1912, he earned a living as a professional boxer, a circus-performer, and a self-defence trainer at police schools and Scotland Yard.
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Joseph Pilates studied the movements of animals and trained his fellow inmates in fitness and exercises.
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Joseph Pilates later said that the intuitive movements of cats, in particular, inspired many aspects of his fitness regimen.
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Joseph Pilates was then transferred to another internment camp at Knockaloe on the Isle of Man.
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In particular, Joseph Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and of alignment of the spine, and strengthen the deep torso and abdominal muscles.
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Joseph and Clara Pilates soon established a following in the local dance and performing-arts community of New York.
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Joseph Pilates wrote several books, including Return to Life through Contrology and Your Health, and he was a prolific inventor, with over 26 patents cited.
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Joseph Pilates continued to advocate for and teach his method well into his old age, even once he was physically incapable of performing the exercises himself.
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Joseph Pilates died in New York City in 1967 of advanced emphysema at the age of 83.