Reformer Pilates at
Taylor'd Bodies - New Westminster
History
of Reformer
The
Pilates Reformer is definitely an invention
and its name tells you what it does.
It’s a pretty fantastic machine. It reforms
muscles, joints, bones – the body.
As a young man Joseph Pilates moved from Germany
to England where he became a boxer, circus performer,
and self-defense instructor. When World War
One erupted he, and other German nationals,
were incarcerated in Lancaster as “enemy
aliens.” Pilates influenced the other
detainees to follow his exercise regime which
he called, “Contrology.” His fitness
program was so beneficial that he and his fellow
compatriots survived the 1918 influenza epidemic
that took the lives of thousands of people.
He attributed their survival to their physically
fit lungs! Hence, the Pilates Principle of Diaphragmatic
Breathing!
Pilates was later sent to the Isle of Man to
work as a nurse orderly caring for the war wounded.
One can imagine the condition of many of these
soldiers; some had probably grown weak from
lingering in hospital beds for months, their
muscles atrophied, further inhibiting their
potential for recovery. Unable to participate
in Pilates’ floor exercises, these men
benefited by Joseph’s cleverly designed
apparatus to rehabilitate them right from their
hospital beds and wheelchairs.
Looking at the Cadillac one can see the table
as the hospital bed; plumbing pipes create the
canopy and borrowed bedsprings become first
assistive and then resistive exercise tools.
Despite whatever injuries the wounded may have
had, Pilates was able to strengthen their muscles
and restore them to their potential good health.
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