Pilates started in a WWI internment camp

Pilates is having a moment. According to a recent report from the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, Pilates participation has shot up from 9.2 million participants to 12.9 million since 2019, a jump of nearly 40% and the largest of any workout type across the United States. Research from Balanced Body found that in a survey of 800 instructors, 67% are consistently selling out classes.

For many, the term Pilates conjures up an image of leggings-clad women and pricey studios filled with intimidating-looking equipment. While that’s true in some ways (a single studio mat class may cost you upwards of $20, especially in big cities), Pilates is a form of exercise with a fascinating history. It can be geared to anyone, from athletes to patients with chronic illness, and you certainly don’t have to invest a lot of money into a studio membership to see the benefits. 

“Many people commonly think of Pilates as a trendy fitness class or something limited to stretching and toning,” says Joe Hribick, a clinical assistant professor of physical therapy at Lebanon Valley College. “However, in reality, it is a science-based system of movement training that can be tailored for nearly every body type and ability level.”

Pilates’s wartime origins 

The story of Pilates is rife with drama and mystery, and begins with Joseph Pilates. Born in Germany in 1880s, Pilates studied yoga and martial arts in order to help strengthen his own body, says June Kloubec, associate teaching professor of kinesiology at Seattle University. But the exercise really got its start when he was stuck on the Isle of Man during World War I. 

How he got there is a particularly fascinating tale. Pilates was traveling across England as a performer in a German circus troupe doing a Greek statue act with his brother. But in 1914, anti-German sentiment in the UK led to the passage of the Aliens Restriction Act. This law had dramatic effects, the most important of which for Pilates was the internment of German males of military age.

The largest of these German internment camps was Knockaloe. Located on the small, blustery Isle of Man, nestled in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland, it housed 23,000 men at its peak. According to the UK-based research collaboration Our Migration Story, a combination of deportation and forced internment brought the German population in the UK down from 53,324 to 22,254 between 1911 and 1919.

Pilates watched his fellow inmates get increasingly depressed, sickly, and apathetic, he told Sports Illustrated’s Robert Wernick in a 1962 interview. He was determined to change things. 

Pilates watched the flexible, stretchy movements of the cats living on the Isle of Man, and started thinking how he could develop an exercise approach inspired by their athletic bodies, he told Wernick. So he spent his time studying and observing animals, eventually practicing a unique form of exercise that used body weight as resistance.

The story goes that he took his knowledge to the internment camp hospital, where some Pilates practitioners say he began developing new workout equipment using hospital beds and springs: the precursor to the reformer. But that is yet to be confirmed by historical evidence—the Knockaloe Charitable Trust notes that there’s no proof of his hospital involvement.

The first Pilates gym in New York City

After the war, Pilates briefly returned to Germany. But in the mid-1920s, he high-tailed it to New York City. With his partner Clara, he founded the first Pilates studio dubbed the Joseph H. Pilates Universal Gymnasium, which remained open for decades. 

“While Joseph designed the movement patterns, Clara established the crucial tradition of evolving and adapting the Pilates Method to suit individual client needs—a philosophy that ensures the technique, now integrated with modern biomechanical principles, remains highly effective over 95 years later,” adds Jill Drummond, Vice President of Fitness at BODYBAR Pilates. 

In New York City, Pilates perfected his technique, trained athletes and dancers, including Martha Graham and George Balanchine, and filed patents for various workout tools like the early reformer and the so-called “exercising apparatus.” He stayed fit and lithe until his death in 1967. 

There was a bit of hubbub in trying to trademark the Pilates name when he passed. But in 2000, a Manhattan federal court declared that Pilates was an exercise method, and therefore not trademarkable, kind of like yoga or aerobics. 

The practice and benefits of pilates

The core principles of Pilates, be it for mat, reformer, or any new rendition, haven’t changed much since its inception: breathing, cervical alignment, rib and scapular stabilization, pelvic mobility, and utilizing the transverse abdominis, says Kloubec. Each exercise begins with preparation of a key set of muscles, such as the abdominal, gluteal, and paraspinal muscles. Then it’s time for movements such as the shoulder bridge or bird dog. These exercises are typically repeated several times, and then it’s on to the next.  

Experts are beginning to understand the benefits of Pilates-style exercises beyond just the increased balance and muscle strength that comes out of attending a few weekly classes. Hribick says Pilates techniques are sometimes integrated into physical therapy practice for patients with low back pain, postural dysfunction, joint hypermobility, or after orthopedic surgeries. 

Most research on Pilates compares it with a non-active control group and has small, often niche, sample sizes. This can make clinical findings on the exercise’s effects on health less solid, says Tiffany Field, research professor at the University of Miami School of Medicine and author of a recent review on Pilates research. 

“The gold standard nowadays is that you need to compare a physical exercise of that type with another physical exercise, and a lot of times when that happens they come out almost equivalent,” she tells PopSci. 

Pilates is low-impact and gentle on joints but provides a challenging workout, adds Drummond, which is a central part of its lasting allure. But it’s not necessarily a replacement for other sports and activities, be it strength training, running, or yoga, adds Hribick. Instead, think of it as a complement to your favorite routines.

Pretty much anyone can get started with Pilates, from older people to athletes to patients with chronic illness to desk job workers. All you need is a mat, but Kloubec recommends starting in a class with a professional teacher to get the gist of movements and how they feel. Instructors have adapted the workout to include people with limited mobility, but it’s important to check in with your physician before undertaking any kind of new exercise if you’re pregnant or facing health challenges.

“I think a lot of folks that don’t think they could do Pilates could do it and benefit from it,” Kloubec says. “I believe that this is especially true for individuals with chronic disease, disabilities, or other movement challenges. Pilates is something that they could do and they would see results.”

 

Shop Amazon’s Prime Day sale

We’ve hand-picked dozens of PopSci-approved deals on tools, electronics, and more. Grab them before they’re gone.