Joseph Pilates was born in 1883, near the North German city of Dusseldorf, and died in 1967 in New York. He worked in Britain from 1912 to 1914 as a circus performer, boxer and self-defence instructor. During the First World War, he was interned in England. He developed his techniques by teaching them to fellow internees.
After the war Joseph Pilates returned to Germany. He continued to develop his practice and his system of exercise influenced the creator of dance notation in 1923, he immigrated to the United States.
Clara Pilates, his wife and life partner was involved in developing his business and body conditioning methods. Clara was a nurse. They met and fell in love on the boat on the way to America and decided to blend their ideas on rehabilitation, fitness and health. Although they had no children, Pilates students took a primary focus in their lives.
Joseph Pilates opened up the first Pilates studio in New York, among his clients were the dancers from the New York City Ballet.
During his career he developed his methods for body conditioning which he called Contrology, invented various pieces of exercise equipment, published two books, "Return to Life Through Contrology" (1945), and "Your Health"
