Do You Speak Pilates?

Contrology. Table top. Candlestick. These are words I say to myself when moving through the world, when engaging my core so I can lift both legs to a 90-degree angle and when stretching one or both legs straight up, toes pointed at the ceiling. I also intone, “Sit with intention” every time I correct my sloppy posture.

In other words, I speak Pilates.

Just over a year ago, I enrolled in Pilates Reformer classes at my fitness center. The very idea seemed intimidating at first, but friends who had taken the classes all insisted that Pilates — taught on the machines, not on a mat — got them in great shape, alleviated back or shoulder pain for some and got them moving better. 

Still, at first I thought I may be too old, or maybe it would make my three kinds of arthritis, my scoliosis and my stenosis worse. Informative websites refuted all that, saying Pilates could help. The same websites promised increased relaxation and a reduction in cortisol, the stress hormone. (Some of us have so much of that right now — maybe we could set up a kiosk at the mall and sell the excess?)  

Like yoga, Pilates also demands that the mind and body work together. Low-impact Pilates Reformer classes also can improve core strength, increase flexibility and help with posture, balance and gait. The springs and straps on the Reformer machine — which resembles a low massage table but has a moveable carriage — and assorted pieces of equipment provide a full-body workout, said to be suitable for all fitness levels. 

That said, I had to fill out a “training intake” form for the gym before enrolling. I figured I would be rejected, as my musculo-skeletal issues hinder my mobility, and just recently my body reminded me that I need to refrain from moving furniture. (Ouch.) Surprise — I was accepted, and was invited to try Pilates. 

I’m no jock, but I’ve been doing water aerobics and yoga for almost 50 years, taken classes in Zumba, Qi Gong, Jazzercise and Tai Chi, lifted free weights and worked out on assorted machines at various gyms. Out of necessity, I’ve also had to learn physical therapy exercises for several body parts. (Sigh.)  

Perhaps due to a childhood filled with dance and gymnastics lessons and the many hours I spent playing circus and pirate ship with friends on my backyard swing set, I’m also limber and I have strong thighs. (Sometimes, my cousins and I are grateful for our burly "Corrigan Thighs" and sometimes, we wish they were smaller.) A few years ago, after a yoga teacher instructed the class to do legs-up-the-wall, she moved around the room to help her  students. When she got to me, she said, “You have marvelous hamstrings!” I replied that I used to be a can-can dancer, which is a lie.  

After I took three private Pilates Reformer classes at the gym, I signed up for group lessons. I’ve opted to stay in the Pilates Reformer Foundations class, and still have no interest in moving to the next level, as I do not want to stand on the Reformer. Ever. Some days, I confidently stride into the studio and show off my impressive leg circles, with or without straps for support. Other days, I wobble in, crunchy and stiff, and barely make it through the 50-minute class. Either way, I walk out feeling taller and stronger. Pilates works for me.   

The Founder of the Pilates System 

Joseph Pilates (1883-1967), a German-born gymnast, boxer and circus performer, developed the exercise program — he dubbed it “Contrology” — while held captive as an enemy alien in Lancaster, England, during World War I. He incorporated elements of gymnastics, yoga, dance and martial arts (and allegedly even the stretching techniques he had observed in cats), and he patented 26 fitness devices in his lifetime. Here's an interesting blog post from a Pilates instructor. 

Fun Fact: Pilates spent time in a second internment camp on the tiny Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, and classes still are taught there. Here is a Facebook page based there. 

After the war, he returned to Germany. Around 1925, Pilates immigrated to the U.S. On the ship, he met Clara Zeuner, a nurse, and they later married. In New York City, the couple founded the Joseph H. Pilates Universal Gymnasium, where Clara helped refine the exercises and they taught for almost 40 years. 

Several sources claim their students included dancers Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Jerome Robbins and Suzanne Farrell as well as violinist Yehudi Menuhin, opera singer Roberta Peters and actor Lauren Bacall.  

You can learn more from Pilates’ book “Return to Life through Contrology and Your Health” or from the updated version, “Pilates Evolution — The 21st Century” by Joseph Pilates, Judd Robbins and Lin Van Heuit-Robbins. Also, a documentary, “A Movement of Movement,” was released in 2013. 

Pilates as Practiced in the Mississippi River 

Joseph Pilates had a brother — Clemens Fred Pilates — who went by Fred. (1890-1978) A machinist/tool and die maker whose leg was injured in World War I, Fred not only embraced his brother’s devotion to Contrology, but is said to have built the early claw-footed Reformer. In 1953, he opened the first recorded Pilates home studio in St. Louis, Missouri — in his own house. He taught classes there and in some local gyms, and also spent time in public parks, encouraging older adults to exercise more. 

Among his many inventions designed to boost fitness were an “air cycle,” which Fred crafted from bicycle parts mounted on two surf boards. The user propelled the machine through water by pedaling, which strengthens the legs. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a feature article on Fred in January 1968, following up on an earlier story in the Star-Times newspaper that ran an amazing photo of Fred using the device in the Mississippi River — the largest working river in the country. 

My Pilates instructor gets credit for telling me about Fred's St. Louis connection and sending me the clips about him. (Thanks!) Just today, I wondered if either Pilates brother had any offspring. Joseph did not, but one article I read mentioned three of Fred’s daughters: Gertrude Pilates, Mary Pilates LeRiche and Frances Pilates Battles.  

As an adult, Mary, born in 1920, taught classes in her uncle’s studio in New York City for a time and then returned to St. Louis to help her father teach and develop additional fitness equipment. The last mention I found online about her indicated that Mary moved to south Florida, where she taught Pilates for decades. I found no obituary for her, so she is 89 now. 

In 2022, the Pilates by the Bay studio in Toms River, New Jersey, posted some wonderful historic pictures of Clara and Mary. Also, I read that in 2020, when Mary accepted a speaking engagement in Jupiter, Florida, she arrived with a box, about 12 inches long and 5 inches wide, that held a miniature replica of the Reformer that her father had made for her. Pilates instructor Bonnie Hubscher reported, “It was complete with leather straps, a moving carriage on tiny wheels, and tiny springs from watches.” 

Attention must be paid while on a Pilates Reformer, but should my mind wonder at all, I have so much to think about!