Joseph Pilates was born in Germany in 1883. He was an avid skier, diver and gymnast who moved to England in 1912, taking up a position as a Self Defence Instructor for Scotland Yard detectives.

At the outbreak of WWI, Joe was interned as an "enemy alien". During this time he rigged springs to hospital beds, enabling bed-ridden patients to exercise against resistance, an invention that led to his later equipment designs.

Joe emigrated to the USA in 1926, opening a Fitness Studio in New York where he trained New York City Ballet dancers.

He used his "Balanced Body Mind Soul" philosophy to design and develop his own equipment and continued to train clients in his Pilates method until his death in 1967.