Joseph Pilates felt his work was 50 years ahead of his time. His definition of physical fitness was simple: "the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily and satisfactorily performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure". He believed in "natural movements" with the emphasis on doing and being. Although he was a health guru, he believed in fitness supporting your life's rich goals. He was renowned for liking cigars, whiskey, and women and was often seen robustly running on Manhattan streets in the dead of winter in his swimsuit!

Pilates was born in 1880 in a small town near Dusseldorf, Germany. He was a small and sickly child who suffered from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever. Determined to overcome these ailments he journeyed into the world of fitness and health. Shortly after being given a discarded anatomy book by a family physician, he was quoted having said that he “learned every page, every body part." By fourteen he had worked so hard at developing his body that he was asked to model for anatomy charts. In his youth he committed himself to studying both Eastern and Western forms of exercise including yoga, Zen, and ancient Greek and Roman regimens. As a young man he achieved recognition as an accomplished body builder, wrestler, gymnast, boxer, skier, and diver.

Around 1913 Pilates traveled to England although it is unclear if he traveled as a performer in a traveling circus or to pursue his boxing career. In 1914 however, with the onset of WWI, he was interned along with other German nationals in a camp for enemy aliens in Lancaster, England. It was here that he began devising his system of original exercises that later became "Contrology" or the Pilates mat exercises as we refer to them today. Upon being transferred to another camp on The Isle of Man he became something of a nurse and worked with many detainees who were incarcerated and suffering from wartime diseases and injuries. It was at this point that he began devising rehabilitative equipment, taking springs from beds and rigging exercise apparatus for the bedridden. This was the unlikely beginning of the equipment we use today like the Cadillac and Reformer.

After the war Pilates returned briefly to Germany. In 1925 he was invited to train the New German Army, but as he was unhappy with the political direction in which the country was heading, he decided to travel westward to the US. En route to America Joe met Clara, a nurse, and his future wife.

Upon arriving in New York City they opened a gym at 939 Eighth Ave. Being in close proximity to a number of dance studios led to his "discovery" by the dance community; many dancers as well as NY's elite depended on Joe's exercises for rehabilitation and strength. Between 1926 and 1966 Pilates also trained a number of students who not only applied his work to their own lives but later became teachers of the method themselves. These early teachers are revered as the first generation, or Pilates Elders. Some of these elders committed themselves to passing along Joseph Pilates work exactly as he taught it. This approach is referred to as "classical" Pilates and is what we offer at Second Story Pilates.

In January 1966 there was a fire in the building that housed their gym. Joe returned to his studio to try and save anything possible and fell through the burnt out floorboards, hanging by his hands from a beam for quite some time until being rescued by firefighters. It is assumed that this incident directly led to his death in October 1967, at the age of 87. Clara, regarded by many as the more superb teacher, continued to teach and run the studio until her death ten years later, in 1977.