Joseph Plates, who gave his name to the Pilates technique, was born in Düsseldorf in 1880.
Plates, who was a frail child who struggled with asthma and rheumatism, developed his body by taking up skiing and gymnastics at a young age. In 1912, Plates, who gave self-defense lessons to circus acrobats, boxers and detectives in England, was declared an enemy during World War I and taken to a camp in the Lancaster region.

Plates, who worked as a nurse in the camp and developed her own technique there, taught her technique to soldiers there. When the flu epidemic that caused the death of many people in England in 1918 did not affect those in Plates' camp, the technique she applied came to the fore. Plates, who continued to develop her method in Germany after the war and taught it to city police officers, immigrated to the USA in 1926 and opened her studio. Pilates' method, which included famous dancers such as Graham and Balanchine among her students, became increasingly widespread.

Still popular in the 21st century, Pilates has been adopted by celebrities such as Madonna, Hugh Grant, Britney Spears, and Julia Roberts. Aiming to create a strong body, Pilates provides conditioning for the entire body with 30-40 basic movements.

Joseph Plates' method, which he calls "controlology", is a synthesis of balance, breathing, and movement systems that foresee the integrity of the mind and body. It is a system that strengthens and stretches muscles and is based on the principle of strengthening the inner abdominal muscles in particular in order to protect joints and bones throughout life.