Mr. Pilates | Retro Report

Joseph Pilates was born in Germany in 1883. Living in England at the outbreak of WWI, Pilates was interned as an “enemy alien.” During his time in the internment camp, he developed a fitness regime for himself and his fellow prisoners. At the end of the war he returned to Germany, where his fitness method, which he called “Contrology,” became popular in the dance community. In 1926, Joseph Pilates emigrated to the United States and opened a fitness studio in New York City.
In this co-production with Retro Report, we visit that fitness studio, and explore the surprising backstory of the popular workout.

[@AaronSethPrice]

it's also said that a lot of his stretches were inspired by the manx cats that were living on the island he was imprisoned at and he had noted that the cats all seemed bright eyed and lively while the humans were not that, and when he was in New York he would visit the zoo and study the large cats there the same way

[@heatherquiring8983]

what a great video!!!! Thank you!!

[@maurobusti5343]

Rolates happens to be in the same building as Joe´s home and Studio was, it is not the same apartment where Joseph and Clara lived and taught .

[@PikesCore24]

Turns out that this information is mostly untrue. John Steel makes an excellent argument that Pilates was not in an internment camp, he was in a prison camp for captured German soldiers. There is no evidence he built exercises machines in his prison camp; the beds did not have springs in those camps. Pilates probably made these stories up to explain what he was doing for five years during world war I. Read Johns Steels book. Also, is joe pilates supposed to be in the pictures at 0.56 and 1.04? If so, which is he? Pretty amateurish little video?