Who Was Joseph Pilates? A Brief History of the Man Behind the Method Joseph Pilates 1880-1967 Joseph Hubertus Pilates was born in 1880 near Düsseldorf, Germany. His father, a native of Greece, had been a prize-winning gymnast, while his German-born mother was a naturopath who believed in the principle of stimulating the body to heal itself without artificial drugs. No doubt his mother's … [Read more...]