Pilates Workouts

The Pilates method is rooted in the idea that humans of all ages are remarkably resilient and capable of growth and recovery.

Effective Pilates workouts are revitalizing for the body and mind. The system consists of a well-defined series of progressive exercises to be performed with control at a brisk pace in the right order and using the right apparatus when needed.

Joseph Pilates

“Contrology is designed to give you suppleness, natural grace, and skill that will be unmistakably reflected in the way you walk, in the way you play, and in the way you work.“

– Joseph Pilates

Joseph Pilates, the originator of the functional fitness system taught at Atlas Pilates, spent his life developing the system he called “Contrology.” He was born into a family of “physical culturists” in Imperial Germany (pre WWI). A sickly malnourished child, who suffered from asthma and rickets, he set out to transform himself. He spent hours in libraries researching traditional methods of training and injury prevention, including some Asian martial arts, Indian yoga, and especially classical Greek and Roman strength and conditioning. By young adulthood, he had transformed his physique so dramatically that he was in demand, as a model for anatomy illustrations and classical warrior paintings, and as a self-defense trainer.

While interned in a prisoner of war camp during the WWI, he coached and trained the camp boxing team and helped keep other prisoners fit enough to survive the influenza pandemic. Many of the exercise progressions and innovative apparatus were developed during his years in the camp, where he had to get creative with limited resources such as bedsprings and bed frames. No fan of fascism, and the intolerance of artists and boxers, he sailed to New York to open the pioneering gym that became legendary for fitness training and rehabilitating injured dancers and athletes.