Joseph Pilates

Joseph Hubertus Pilates <!--stop people from vandalising the birth date and from removing the reliable sources; the birthday "neunten") is indicated in Kurrent at the end of the birth certificate-->(December 9, 1883 – October 9, 1967) invented and promoted the Pilates method of physical fitness.

Biography

Joseph H. Pilates was born in 1883<!--stop people from vandalising the birth date and from removing the reliable sources--> in Mönchengladbach, Germany. His father was a prize-winning gymnast of Greek ancestry, and his mother worked as a naturopath. His father's family originally spelled its surname in the Greek manner as "Pilatu" but changed to "Pilates" upon immigration to Germany. The new spelling caused Joseph Pilates much grief as a child because older boys taunted him calling him "Pontius Pilate, killer of Christ" (despite Pilate's attempts to speak in Jesus' defense as recounted in, e.g., the Synoptic GospelsHarris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible, Palo Alto (Cal.): Mayfield, 1985.).

Pilates was a sickly child and suffered from asthma, rickets, and...
Read More