WHAT IS PILATES?

Born in Germany in 1883, Joseph Pilates was a sickly child suffering from many illnesses ranging from asthma to bone diseases such as rickets. He dedicated his entire life to improving his physical strength and explored every form of physical exercise he could access: yoga, martial arts, skiing, boxing, body-building and gymnastics to name a few. From his childhood experience of exercise and the influence of his gymnast father and naturopathic mother, Joseph believed that exercise could cure ill health. At around 20 years old, he moved to England and built himself a career that centered around fitness. He was a professional boxer, a circus-performer, and a self-defense trainer at police schools. He came to believe that bad posture and inefficient breathing were at the root of poor health.

A few years later during World War I, British authorities interned Joseph as an “enemy alien” with other German nationals in Lancaster Castle. Here he trained his fellow inmates in fitness and exercises and refined and taught his minimal-equipment system of mat exercises. Eventually he was transferred to another internment camp at Knockaloe on the Isle of Man. It was here, spending years working with bedridden soldiers and fellow internees, that the inspiration for his method came to him.

It is said that he ripped apart a cot and rigged the springs to the hospital beds creating a strap and pulley system that allowed bedridden patients to exercise against resistance without having to stand up. Doctors noted that his patients were recovering more rapidly than others and in 1918, an influenza outbreak killed thousands, but it’s rumored that not one of the patients Joseph worked with died. He attributes this to the effectiveness of his method.

After WWI, Pilates moved back to Germany collaborating with important experts in dance and physical exercise before moving to the United States in 1925. On his voyage to America, he met his future wife, Clara and upon arrival to the US, they founded the first Pilates studio in New York City. They improved upon the original design of rigging springs to the hospital beds thus creating the Pilates Reformer we know today.

The studio space *happened* to be in the same building as the New York City Ballet. He worked with dancers to help rehab and prevent injuries, build strength and increase control. Joseph Pilates was using his method as a form of “Physical Therapy” before Physical Therapy was respected by the medical profession. Pilates established a devoted following in the local dance and performing-arts community of New York and soon after it became known that ballerinas were attending the Pilates gym on 8th Avenue, society women followed.

It wasn’t long before Joseph’s students began to closely study his method, so they could teach Pilates as well. When Joseph died in 1967, he left no direction for how he wanted Pilates to continue. A small group of his students continued to study and teach around the US, each developing their own version of Pilates. These are now known as the Pilates “Elders,” or first generation Pilates instructors. It was these "Elders," who eventually expanded the pilates method  and introduced it to Hollywood in the 1970s and the general population in the early 2000’s.

Mat pilates utilizes the body's weight for exercises, while the Reformer adds resistance to the Pilates exercises via the use of the springs that form part of the machine. 

Pilates mat work is the basis for the entire Pilates system of exercises. The repertoire for classical mat work is comprised of 34 "classical" pilates exercises. Working on a mat creates an environment where you can push through physical limitations without any outside help or equipment. This can improve your balance, stability and strengthen your core over time because you do not have any assistance whatsoever. Pilates Mat work is the most accessible form of Pilates, and it requires nothing but a soft surface and a mat. But for beginners, mat pilates can be more challenging than a Reformer, because you use your body weight as resistance and don’t have foot bars, springs, or straps to push and pull against. Mat Pilates offers much less support. There are props you can use like blocks to aid certain poses/exercises, however, compared to the reformer, there is much less assistance.

The Reformer acts as a support system for the body by helping assist it into proper form. Unlike mat pilates, the reformer adds resistance to the Pilates exercises via the use of the springs that form part of the machine. The machine provides the user with feedback that helps orient you in space, which is essential for balance, muscle coordination, and quality of movement. This type of input also causes muscles to contract when they need it most, such as during physical challenges like weighted squats or pushups on the mat, because you feel resistance no matter where your body moves! Extra springs can be added to build strength in the bigger muscle groups, or lower springs can be utilized to challenge the stabilizing muscles. 

Due to the resistance created by the pulley and spring system of the Reformer, the repertoire of exercises available is greatly increased compared to the mat, providing far more variety. You can perform very basic to highly advanced movements in virtually any position on the reformer. The Reformer can also provide a more challenging strength and endurance workout than mat classes, leading to visible results sooner.