Is Pilates suitable for men?

Joseph Pilates’ design of the Pilates Method was initially with the male physique in mind and how the exercises would compliment and correct the requirements and restrictions often unique to the male body. Men most often begin practicing Pilates when looking for an alternative rehabilitation for a nagging injury. What they come to find is that the exercises provide highly beneficial cross-training for any other sport and exercise that they participate in. Rugby teams both internationally and locally are have come to realise the benefits of Pilates' functional movements and are regularly putting their players through the repertoire. Men also most often have sedentary day jobs requiring that they spend hours hunched over a computer leaving them with postural problems and weak abs. Ailments to which Pilates offers them a good dose of spine flexibility and a strong powerhouse, which contributes to keeping the body young as the years tick by.

Where did Pilates originate?

Joseph Pilates was born in Germany in 1880 as a sickly child, suffering from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever and it was his experience of poor health that drove him to seek physical strength and perfect health later in his life. Joseph believed that the sedentary modern-day lifestyle, bad posture and inefficient breathing were responsible for health problems. Joseph sought to rectify these evils in his own life through partaking in many sports and activities such as boxing, gymnastics, body-building, self-defence training and even circus-performing.

When Joseph Pilates was interned at the Isle of Man during the outbreak of WW1, he was assigned to nurse the sick and injured camp internees. He used springs taken from the hospital beds to provide a means of movement and strength rehabilitation through resistance for the patients.

It was here that Joseph Pilates began to engineer the equipment that would later be the foundation of the Pilates system. Not one of his patients died of the influenza epidemic that struck England at the time which, Joseph believed, testified to the impact his system had on a person’s overall health.

Joseph Pilates met his future wife, Clara on the ship to the USA in 1925. It was with her by his side that Joseph founded a New York studio at the same address as the New York City Ballet, which grew from a base of loyal clients, mainly dancers who enjoyed the benefits of the system. Joe Pilates continued to train clients until his death at the age of 87. He never lived to see the widespread adoption of the Pilates system throughout the world.

“I must be right. Never an Aspirin. Never an injured day in my life. The whole country, the whole world, should be doing my exercises. They’d be happier.”