Joseph Pilates was a sickley child and having had asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever, he dedicated most of his life to improving his health and physical strength. By the age of 14 he became fit enough to pose for amatomical charts. Pilates came to believe that the "modernized" life style, bad posture and ineffecient breathing lay at the roots of poor health. He ultimately devised a series of exercises and training techiniques.

He engineered all the equipment, specifications, and tuning required to teach his methods properly. He studied Yoga, Qi gong, body building, boxing, and gymnastics. Joe recognized that not just one type of exercise would effectively handle the needs of an individual, but he could see that each style he studied added something to the development of a healthy, strong, balanced body.