Joseph Pilates, a German-American physical trainer who gave his name to one of the most popular forms of exercise in the West, was born 140 years ago on December 9th. Pilates concluded that "modern" lifestyles, poor posture and ineffective breathing were at the root of poor health. He eventually developed a series of exercises and training techniques, and designed all the equipment, features and settings needed to teach his methods. It was called Pilates.

…Pilates was a sickly child. He suffered from asthma, rickets and rheumatism and devoted his entire life to improving his physical strength. His father introduced him to gymnastics and bodybuilding, as well as martial arts such as jiu-jitsu and boxing. By the age of 14, he had turned into a young man with ideal proportions.

At the age of 29, he went to work in England, boxed professionally, trained boxers and taught self-defense to police officers. At the outbreak of the First World War, Pilates was forcibly interned (resettled) by the British government on the Isle of Man, as he was an emigrant of German origin. During a period of forced inactivity, Pilates, helping soldiers return to life after injuries and wounds, began working on formalizing the concept and packaging his experience into a specific method, which he called controlology.

Around 1925, Pilates immigrated to the United States and founded a studio in New York in the building of the city ballet center. Ballet dancers began to attend his classes and were the first to feel the great power of the new system.

Pilates believed that the human body has its own resources to heal from diseases that may arise from an imbalance between the body, mind and spirit. To restore balance and control your body with your mind was the primary goal of his controlology. The original name of the system “controlology” was subsequently replaced by the name of the inventor.

During his life, Joseph Pilates tried many professions, worked in a circus, ran a physical development studio, and wrote books. However, he gained popularity as a self-taught athlete. The method he invented showed its effectiveness in practice. In old age, Pilates posed for artists, which suggests that his body remained ideal throughout his life.

For almost a hundred years, Pilates, as a type of rehabilitation fitness, has been improved and gained wide popularity. The system created by an athlete with an active lifestyle helped restore health, first to himself, and then to millions of other people. Now the Pilates system, despite its centuries-old history, remains a very popular and useful form of physical activity all over the world.

Until his death, Joseph Pilates remained in shape and looked much younger than his years. He died at the age of 83 during a fire accident.

Numerous medical studies have shown that the Pilates system is truly effective. The technique helps to get rid of back and joint pain, helps to heal spinal injuries. It is effective in the fight against osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, headaches and stress. Joseph Pilates himself claimed that after ten sessions using his method, any person begins to feel much better. After twenty, your appearance changes, your posture and gait improve. And after just thirty classes, a person receives a completely new body, and with it control over the mind and feelings.

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