What is Pilates?

Stretch, strength and control.

In 1926, Joseph H. Pilates and his wife Clara arrived in New York City, opened a studio and began a revolution in body conditioning.

Joseph Pilates' work began in World War I. He and his wife were interned in Britain during the war. Clara, his wife, was a nurse. As she worked nursing injured soldiers he began to experiment with ways to maintain and build fitness while they convalesced. He experimented with attaching springs to the bedframe to stretch and strengthen muscles that would otherwise atrophy. Over the course of his lifetime, Joseph Pilates would develop over 500 exercises and many unique apparatus. He called his system of body conditioning Contrology.

Pilates is a series of exercises focusing on what is called the Powerhouse. The Powerhouse consists of the muscles of the abdomen, buttocks and inner thighs. The stronger these muscles become the more the spine is supported. The stronger the body's core the easier it is to maintain posture, move efficiently and develop long lean muscle in the rest of the body.