Pilates was developed by Joseph Pilates, who was born in Germany and formerly ill. a person suffering from asthma. As often happens with the authors of sports and recreational techniques, his motivation and willpower were enough to overcome his, as it seemed then, incurable disease.
He suffered from rickets, rheumatism, ridicule and fists of peers trying to prove their strength by humiliating the weak. When he was 10 years old, smearing blood and snot, quite appropriate to the situation, Josef heard from his father: "Man is the master of his own destiny. You can give up, or you can start fighting."
And the boy began to fight: among his constant activities there were gymnastics, skiing, bodybuilding, diving, wrestling and swimming. By the age of 12, he looked so good that he was invited to pose by artists. Having won the first victory over himself, Josef did not find the key to luck, his life is not like a fairy tale, as well as the life of most people whose youth falls on the period of the First World War. So having changed many places of work, Pilates finds himself in a camp for the Germans, where he continues his training and introduces them to other prisoners. Probably, the technique saved Pilates and his followers from the flu epidemic and, possibly, not only from it.
In 1918, he began training for the police of Hamburg, and in 1922 he moved to New York, where he opened his school at the ballet studio. Soon the school becomes known and highly profitable.
The Pilates system itself is distinguished by an integrated approach, the basis of which is breathing and motivation, now it would be called the creation of thought images or visualization in the process of training, the creation of a mutually reinforcing connection between physical activity and consciousness, as well as a relaxed state of some muscles. during exercises that load other muscles.
Currently, Pilates is in vogue in Russia and represents. both gymnastics at home and classes in fitness centers with the appropriate equipment, which began to be developed by Joseph Pilates himself.
First, breathing is established. You can lie down on the mat and accurately perform a breathing and abdominal muscle stretching exercise.
Subsequent exercises are characterized by smoothness, accuracy and use to perform energy associated with exactly what Pilates called the "framework of strength" – oblique and transverse abdominal muscles.
Performing exercises, you can give a load to muscles that need stretching and tension with a sedentary lifestyle, improve posture, figure and for a long time maintain the ability to move easily and beautifully, no wonder Pilates trained not only Hamburg policemen, but also New York ballerinas.