WHY IS THE PILATES METHOD CALLED THAT?

Combining gentle gymnastics and breathing exercises, the Pilates method was invented during the First World War.
It takes its name from its creator, the German Joseph Pilates. Living in England, he had been imprisoned in an internment camp because of his nationality, when his adopted country had entered the conflict.

To help his fellow inmates maintain their physical condition, Joseph Pilates developed exercises that could be performed on the floor easily, using whatever equipment he had on hand: springs and straps from dismantled beds.

In the 1930s, he moved to the United States, where he took up this technique and founded a school in New York. Joseph Pilates died in 1967, but his method became so well known that it is now practiced all over the world.