equipment used are so clever that it is almost impossible to cheat. The exercises are gentle enough to be performed by the those who are physically vulnerable whether pregnant, injured, weak or elderly. And sophisticated enough to challenge the most superfit. Muscles are never worked to exhaustion - so there should be no soreness the day after.
Pilates is about balancing the body, increasing pliancy so that movement is easier, building co-ordination for efficiency of movement, keeping body parts lubricated and balanced and increasing stamina. Exercises were developed to create well-being and the ability to continue an active life. And the results are multifold: from body sculpting to rehabilitation and injury prevention, to stress reduction and relaxation, improved circulation, increased bone density and more energy.

Who was Pilates?
“It’s the mind which builds the body.” Joseph Pilates
Ironically, Joseph Pilates called his work “Controllogy” which meant the body must be controlled and trained through the disciplines of the mind. That name never stuck, but Joe’s certainly did.
Born just outside of Dusseldorf, Germany, Joe was a frail child, suffering from asthma and rickets. His first fight occurred at the age of five when some of his classmates taunted him calling him “Pontius Pilate killer of Christ.” He swung out his fists and swung ever since.
By the time he was 14, he worked so hard at bodybuilding

that he posed for anatomical charts. He studied everything including calisthenics, boxing, skiing, gymnastics, yoga, fencing, swimming and diving. But it was his examination of the way wild animals

moved and children played that helped him develop the principles for his method - understanding that movement should be natural and that our bodies must rediscover