Joseph Pilates was a fitness guru and inventor born in 1883 near the northern German city of Dusseldorf. 乔瑟夫·彼拉提斯是1883年于德国北部城市杜塞道夫出生的健身专家和发明家。

His father was a prizewinning gymnast of Greek ancestry. 他的父亲是希腊血统的得奖体操运动员。

His mother was a naturopath, who believed in stimulating the body to heal itself without drugs or surgery. 他的母亲是一名自然疗法师，她深信不用药物或手术就能刺激身体修复自己。

His mother's healing philosophy and father's physical achievements were to greatly influence Pilates' ideas on therapeutic exercise. 他母亲的治疗哲学以及父亲在体能的成就，将会深深影响彼拉提斯在运动疗法上的想法。

Pilates was a sickly child, suffering from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever. 彼拉提斯是个体弱多病的孩子，饱受气喘、佝偻病、和风湿热之苦。

To make matters worse, the bigger children at school taunted him by making fun of his name. 让情况更糟糕的是，学校里较魁梧的孩子借由开他名字的玩笑来嘲弄他。

He became determined to overcome his physical disadvantages, 他下并决心要克服生理上的不利条件，

and dedicated his life to improving his health and strength. 并将他的人生投入在改善他的健康及力量上。

He focused on breathing techniques to assist with his asthma, 他专注于呼吸技巧以帮助改善他的气喘，

and by exercising outside in his shorts, was able to cure his rickets which is caused by a vitamin D deficiency. 借由穿着短裤在户外运动，他能够治疗因为缺乏维他命 D 所引起的佝偻病。

By the age of 14, he was fit enough to pose for anatomical charts. 在十四岁时，他已经够健壮到能当人体结构图的模特儿。

He loved skiing and being outdoors. He studied bodybuilding, yoga, martial arts, and gymnastics. 他喜欢滑雪和待在户外。他研读健身、瑜伽、武术、和体操。

You can recognize the influence of these activities in the Pilates technique. 你可以在彼拉提斯的技巧中辨识出这些运动的影响。

For example, the long stretch and up stretch on the Reformer are drawn from "downward-facing dog" and "plank" in yoga. 举例来说，器械床上的延长伸展和向上伸展是取自于瑜伽中“面朝下的狗式”和“棒式”。

He uses punching and sidekick movement similar to martial arts. 他使用类似武术的出拳和侧踢动作。

And some exercises on the chair are similar to gymnastic ring work. 有些在椅子上的练习类似于体操吊环运动。

The natural movements of animals also inspired him and this can be seen in exercises such as the cat stretch on the Cadillac. 动物的自然动作同样也给他灵感，这可以在练习动作中看到，像是在凯迪拉克床上的猫式伸展。

In 1912, Joseph Pilates moved to England and earned a living as a professional boxer, circus performer, and self-defense trainer at Scotland Yard. 在1912年，乔瑟夫·彼拉提斯搬到英国，并以职业拳击手、马戏团演员、和伦敦警察厅的自卫训练师谋生。

During World War I, however, the British authorities interned him, along with other German citizens, in a British Enemy Citizens' Camp on the Isle of Man. 然而，第一次世界大战期间，英国当局将他和其他德国公民一起拘留在曼岛上的英国敌国国民拘留营。

The health conditions in these camps were poor, 这些拘留营中的健康状态很差，

but Pilates insisted that everyone in his cellblock participate in daily exercise routines, 但彼拉提斯坚持在他狱区里的所有人都要参加每日的运动行程，

which he had devised to help maintain their physical and mental well-being. 那是他设计出来帮助维持他们身理及心理健康的运动。

Some of the injured German soldiers were too weak to get out of bed. 有些受伤的德国士兵太过虚弱而无法离床。

Not content to leave his comrades lying idle, 不甘愿于丢下他的伙伴们闲躺着，

Pilates took springs from the beds and attached them to the headboards and footboards of the iron bed frames, 彼拉提斯从床上取出弹簧并将它们接到铁床架的床头板及床尾板上，

turning them into equipment that provided a type of resistance exercise for his bedridden patients. 将它们变成为久病患者提供一种耐力运动的器材。

These mechanized beds were the forerunners of the spring-based exercise machines, 这些机械化的病床是那些以弹簧为基础的运动机械的先驱，

such as the Cadillac and the Reformer, for which the Pilates method is known today. 像是凯迪拉克床和器械床，那些都是彼拉提斯法今日为人所知的器材。

Pilates legend has it that during the great flu epidemic of 1918, not a single soldier under his care died.  彼拉提斯传说这样流传着，在1918年的大流感期间，没有一个在他照护之下的士兵丧命。

Remarkable!Considering the terrible living conditions of the internment camps. 非常惊人!考虑到那拘留营中糟糕的生活环境。

After the war, Joseph returned to Germany and collaborated with experts in dance and physical exercise, such as Rudolf Laban. 战后，乔瑟夫回到德国，并与舞蹈及体能运动专家合作，像是Rudolf Laban(舞蹈家)。

In Hamburg, he trained police officers. He was also pressured to train members of the German army, 在德国汉堡，他训练警察。他同样也被迫使去训练德国军队，

but left his native Germany, disappointed with its political and social conditions, and immigrated to the United States. 但他离开了土生土长的德国，对于其政治和社会条件感到失望，并移民到美国。

En route, he met his future wife, a young nurse named Clara. 在路上，他结识了他未来的妻子，一位名叫 Clara 的年轻护士。

The couple founded a studio in New York City and taught and supervised their students well into the 1960s. 这对情侣在纽约成立一间工作室，并教导且监督他们的学生一直到六零年代。

His method, which he and Clara originally called Contrology, encouraged the mind to control muscles. 他的方法，他和 Clara 原先称作“控制哲学”，刺激心志去控制肌肉。

It focused attention on core postural muscles that help keep the body balanced and provide support for the spine. 那能集中注意力在帮助维持人体平衡及提供脊椎支撑力的核心姿势肌上。

In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and of alignment of the spine, 最特别地，彼拉提斯运动训练对呼吸以及脊椎矫正的认识，

and strengthen the deep torso and abdominal muscles. 并强化躯干深处与腹部的肌肉。

Pilates came to believe that modern lifestyle, bad posture, and inefficient breathing lay at the roots of poor health. 彼拉提斯开始相信现代的生活型态、不正确的姿势、以及无效率的呼吸为不良的健康状态扎根。

Joseph Pilates' New York gym put him in close proximity to a number of dance studios, 乔瑟夫·彼拉提斯在纽约的运动中心将他带到几间舞蹈工作室的邻近区域，

which led to his discovery by prominent members of the dance community, including George Balanchine and Martha Graham. 这使得他被舞蹈界的知名人物发现，包括 George Balanchine 和 Martha Graham。

The Pilates repertoire itself has many references to classical ballet and also the Graham technique. 彼拉提斯的动作本身就有许多古典芭蕾、也有葛莱姆技巧(现代舞技巧)的参考依据。

For example, the ballet stretches on the Cadillac and Ladder Barrel, the round back and straight back in the stomach massage series on the Reformer. 举例来说，像是凯迪拉克床及梯桶上的芭蕾伸展、还有器械床上胃部按摩系列的拱背及直背。

Many dancers, actors, and famous people in New York depended on Pilates for the strength and grace it developed, 许多舞者、演员、和纽约名人都为了它所带来的力量及魅力而仰赖彼拉提斯，

as well as for its rehabilitative effects. 还有为了它那复健的效果。

Joseph Pilates wrote two books, Your Health and Return to Life through Contrology, and was also a prolific inventor. 乔瑟夫·彼拉提斯写过两本书：“你的健康”以及“透过控制哲学重返人生”，他同样也是作品丰富的发明家。

He passed away in 1967 at the age of 83 in New York. He had maintained a fit physique throughout his life, 他在1967年83岁时在纽约逝世。他在他的人生中都保持强健的体魄，

and photographs show that he was in remarkable physical condition in his older years. 也有照片显示他在晚年仍处于绝佳的生理状态。

He is also said to have had a flamboyant personality. He smoked cigars, liked to party, 据说他同样也有高调的个性。他抽雪茄、喜欢参加派对、

and wore his exercise briefs wherever he wanted—even on the streets of New York. 无论他想在哪穿都穿着他的运动小内裤－－甚至在纽约大街上。

It's said that he was an intimidating, though deeply committed, instructor. Although Joseph and Clara had no children, 据说他是名虽然深深投入、却也很令人敬畏的导师。即使乔瑟夫和 Clara 没有孩子，

his legacy and exercise techniques were preserved and developed through the work of his disciples. 他的遗产及运动技巧都透过他追随者的努力，被保留下来并成长发展。

These disciples who started out as their apprentices are now called the Elders. 这些一开始是他见习生的追随者们现在叫做“长老”。

Until exercise science caught up with the Pilates method in the 1980s, it was chiefly dancers and elite athletes who utilized the Pilates technique. 直到运动科学在八零年代跟上彼拉提斯的方法前，主要是舞者和菁英运动员利用彼拉提斯的技巧。

Now, Pilates has made it to the mainstream, 现在，彼拉提斯已成为主流，

with its health benefits and mental discipline widely recognized as being of great benefit to the health and well-being of all types of people, 其对健康的益处以及其心志训练，被广泛认为对所有类型的人们的健康及幸福有极大益处，

no matter their shape, size, gender or age. 不论他们的身形、大小、性别或是年龄。

Today, Joseph Pilates teachings are carried on by the Pilates Elders, their progeny, and by a large group of contemporary teachers all over the world. 今天，乔瑟夫·彼拉提斯的教学由彼拉提斯长老们、他们的后代、以及世界各地一大群现代的老师们接着传承下去。