What is Classical Pilates?

Pilates was developed by Joseph Pilates in 1914. It’s a sequence of movements that are designed to correct imbalances, heal injuries and support health.

Whenever students ask me, “What is Pilates?” I begin by first explaining that Pilates is a person. Joseph Pilates was a gymnast, a boxer, circus performer and all-round movement enthusiast who later became famous for introducing the world to a system he called ‘Controlology’ (known today as Pilates).

After suffering from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever in childhood, he dedicated his life to improving his physical strength. Over the years, he tried almost every kind of movement imaginable – from bodybuilding, yoga and martial arts to circus performing and gymnastics. He even taught self-defence classes to police at Scotland Yard!

Although he was born in Germany, he spent many years living in England. During the First World War, he was interned along with other German citizens. It was then that he began teaching fitness and exercise to other prisoners, proudly claiming that they emerged in better physical condition than when they were interned. This minimal-equipment system of mat exercises became known as ‘Controlology’ – this is the same system that students will find in a modern Classical Pilates mat class.

Joseph Pilates later developed exercise methods for rehabilitating injured veterans, which inspired his use of the reformer machines to isolate specific muscles and support weight, allowing the wounded to exercise from their hospital beds.

Around 1925, he moved to New York and opened a studio with his partner, Clara. The Joseph Pilates Instagram account shows some wonderful old photographs from this era. Back in the day, many famous people frequented this studio including the dancers George Balanchine and Martha Graham. They were so impressed by the exercises that they would send their students to Joseph Pilates for strength training and rehabilitation.

Joseph Pilates once said, “A man is as young as his spinal column.” He believed that the spine was the key to physical and emotional wellbeing, claiming that, “A few well-designed movements, properly performed in a balanced sequence, are worth hours of sloppy callisthenics or forced contortion”.

And that’s ultimately what Classical Pilates is: a well-designed series of movements that builds strength, connects the mind and the body, and repairs us from our sedentary modern lives.