Pilates or Not Pilates; that is the question!
Pilates was simply Joe’s surname.
Joseph Pilates a German physical trainer who developed a form of mind-body exercise in the early 1900’s, which he called "Contrology”.
Today, more than 100 years later, Pilates is practiced worldwide. Yet, the question remains: is what you see truly Pilates, or not?
There are many views on the subject depending on whom you ask and how far you go back.
One German man, whose parents were gymnasts and naturopaths,
spent his youth practicing many of the physical training regimens available in those days, and it was that base that founded the Pilates method he later developed.
During World War One and being held in an internment camp on the Isle of Man, Joe spent his time helping other internees with their physical wellbeing and mental health.
Pilates spent four years there, living and sharing his belief that mental and physical health were entwined. He worked on his fellow internees, developing his exercise programs to strengthen the body and mind, and is said to be where the Reformer program was developed using springs from the beds as a means of strength exercise.
Using a combination of 50 plus movements to trigger muscle action, each exercise was typically repeated several times activating all body parts with controlled breathing.
Moving to the USA and setting up a studio in New York, he attracted clients from many areas, such as Ballet, all forms of dance, and more.
With great results came reputation, and this led to using Pilates for rehabilitation and recovery. Further results over time led to cult like status for Pilates that he still holds today, 100 years later.
Many names have created a dynasty over the years, from those that were taught and trained by Joe, and those who learned from them and so on. Each has left their mark in some way, creating the means to carry the flame onto the next generation.
Over my Forty-Seven years in the industry, I’ve been fortunate to have met and known many of them.
HF Through the Years
In 1978 when HF Industries started in business, we realised immediately that the key to success was to show potential clients how to be successful and make money from the products you sold.
Four things were required.
· Provide a good reliable product.
· Be able to support such product.
· Provide programs using products that were both effective and enjoyable.
· Generate a social atmosphere around the classes offered.
Programs should be for all and not just one sector of a group, and creating the most important outcome – that the client wanted to come back and do it again!
We were selling a line of Hydra-Gym hydraulic exercise machines, with such equipment was being used in Physio / Rehab areas, G Force testing in air force programs and some American football codes as a means of strengthening players.
We were happy to continue expanding those markets but needed to look at selling several units at a time, in order to spread the word of what this product could do.
We looked at squash courts as a new market area.
Squash courts held the attention of two people for an hour and earned the court owner around $8.00 per hour.
We figured we could supply 10 Hydra workstations and 10 recovery stations for each squash court, accommodating 20 people at a time, resulting in upwards of $160 per hour.
Over 400 systems were placed around the country, and soon expanded from the squash court to Council Leisure and the Fitness Markets. Each of these areas grew, also expanding the original market areas with each finding ways of utilizing the equipment differently.
Circuit training / Group Exercise took on a new meaning.
During the 80’s and 90’s, many other platforms took on the same format. The Step as an aerobic platform, Precision Cycling / Spin Cycling, Trekking programs on treadmills, TRX / Rip 60 to name a few.
Predominantly a functional training company, moving into the 90’s, we lined up perfectly with the Pilates movement.
We looked at how we could expand the Pilates crusade and take it to the masses, along the same lines as we had successfully achieved in other areas.
How could we take the Pilates products we represented, and show existing and new clients how to make money?
It was simple. Do the same as we had done for 20 years.
In the traditional Pilates progression, the norm was to do training and education for several years in Mat, before progressing to training on apparatus such as reformer.
For us this meant there would never be enough instructors, and therefore we set out with some of the prominent Pilates people at that time, to produce Group Exercise classes for Reformer.
Once ‘Reformer One’ and ‘Reformer Two’ programs were established, it was then a case of teachers educating instructors, and instructors teaching clients.
It was the Pilates market themselves that saw the benefits of the group reformer classes, and soon location after location introduced 6 -10 reformers to their studios; class numbers increased, and more classes added.
The physiotherapy market soon started to expand to 3-4 reformers. A few took to the concept and opened multiple locations in a defined city or around the country.
Around 2012 the fitness market took to the notion that Pilates had “something” and they wanted a part of it!
The “something” was that Pilates methods were not dissimilar to the strength training programs they offered, except it offered more. Functional training, controlled movement, core stability, strength and flexibility, attention to muscle control, posture, and breathing.
Most importantly, these classes were catching on. Clients wanted to participate, they enjoyed doing it, wanted to come back, were achieving something. They were getting results and Had Fun doing it.
The popularity of Pilates was turning into business opportunities.
The return on investment was high for the owners, and therefore worthwhile investing in, which was exactly what we set out to do.
A Reformer Pilates class.
Joe Pilates designed what he called apparatus, to help accelerate the process of stretching, strengthening, body alignment and increased core strength drawn from Mat Pilates. The Reformer has become the best known and most popular apparatus today.
It took just over 100 years to get here, with major momentum in the last twelve years.
Some people’s names go down in history for many reasons. Joe Pilates shed light on what is possible and what can be achieved. It’s up to us as an industry to continue what Joe started.
Not every car is called FORD because Henry Ford developed the car; that honour is said to belong to Gottlieb Daimler or Karl Benz. But Ford was instrumental in taking the car to the masses.
So where are we today? For me, after 47 years in the industry, it’s the same.
Pilates will be here well after my time and for generations to come, continually working with all the different markets and developing others that can benefit from the Pilates Movement.
New and varied accessories will be introduced that can be used on their own or with the reformer to stimulate further interest.
Pilates is a household name, and more so in Australia than most other countries in the world. That is simply because Pilates at this moment in time in Australia, has a much wider market base, and is therefore reaching more people.
We know that several versions of Pilates are taught today; all come from the same base, and all have their own slant depending on what markets they are in.
Pilates allows for exercises to be revised to accommodate the user, their goals and limitations, regardless of age, sex or physical ability. The intensity can be increased or decreased as the body adapts to the exercises. It is the simple reason Pilates has become so popular with the masses.
It must be remembered that Pilates is not a cardiovascular workout, nor a weight loss program.
Some offering “Pilates” will confuse and complicate what Pilates is, in an attempt to gain advantage over others.
Social media and Instagram have assisted in showing the best and the worst of how a Reformer should be used.
In October 2000 "Pilates" was ruled a generic term by a U.S. Federal Court, making the term free for unrestricted use.
It is now up to those in the Pilates market, whatever your involvement, to continue to enhance the method that has long been a pillar of Joe’s work.
And we will do our best to support it.
HF Industries is the distributor for Balanced Body Australia and New Zealand. Contact them to find the best equipment for you.
