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Origins of Pilates and Joseph Pilates

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The paper focuses on the origin of the Pilates method of exercise. It also takes a step-by-step journey of Joseph Pilates (Joe) who was the founder of the Pilates method of exercise. Finally the paper will consider Pilates in the contemporary world.
Pilates refers to a system of physical fitness that was established in the early 20th century. It was developed by Joseph Pilates. Joe was a German born in the year 1880. He suffered from rickets, rheumatic fever, and asthma during his childhood years. Because of the continuous suffering brought by the foregoing conditions, Joe was very week and he always felt vulnerable in a rough realm. This situation inspired him to embark on an enduring pursuit in a bid to gain health and the much needed …show more content…

During the same period, Joe began to work individually with some clients, similar to what trainers in the contemporary societies do in studios the world over (Robinson, 2002). His training became so popular that in the year 1925, he was invited to work as a trainer of the German army. However, Pilates was not content with the political stand that Germany was nurturing and he left Germany again. He moved to the United States and settled in the New York upon the commendations of some of his athlete and colleagues.
He met a lady known as Clara while aboard a steamer on his way to New York. Clara was suffering from the symptoms of arthritis. Joe offered to cure her soreness through his devices and informed her of his dream of establishing a studio where he would carry out his work and develop his exercising methods further. Joe and Clara fell in love and soon after reaching New York they tied the knot. While in New York Joe continued to develop his methods of exercise and together with Clara, his wife, they established the very first Pilates studio in New York during the 1920s.
For the following decades, Joe devoted himself to training other people in his methods routines, developing exercises, and use of apparatus. He also expressed his concepts in writing. He often considered himself as the ideal test for the rationality of his methods of exercise (Pilates, 2012). Through his methods, he was able to maintain a strong youthful body and effervescent strength for

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