Jonathan's Pilates research journey began 12 years ago in 2014 when he was amazed to discover that his own great-grandfather, Jacob Grub, was interned in the very same sub-Camp as Joseph Pilates. 

​

There were about 7,000 men interned in sub-Camp 4 of the Knockaloe Internment Camp here on the Isle of Man and 2 of those men were Joseph and Jacob. No doubt they must have partaken in the same activities at times: tennis, football or the physical exercises developed by the popular physical culturists at the time and known to be practiced at the Camp - perhaps even also those exercises designed and practiced by Joseph at the time.

​

In 2015 Jonathan was invited to give a talk at the opening address of the International Pilates Heritage Congress which was held in Joseph's birth town of Monchengladbach in Germany.  The Congress was instigated and attended by Lolita San Miguel, who had been a client of Joseph Pilates and also went on to be certified by him to teach his method. Lolita was delighted with Jonathan's talk (pictured) and shared with him her own recollection of Joseph discussing his time on the Isle of Man with her.

Many wonderful and enthusiastic international Pilates teachers attended the Congress and were excited with the information Jonathan had shared.  They encouraged him to set up a Facebook Group to share the details and also any further information and research he may discover in the future. At the time Jonathan expected a maximum of perhaps 100 members to join the Group, however, initially many more joined and over the years membership has snowballed among teachers and enthusiasts throughout the world - the Group now has more than 25,500 members 🎉

​

During this time, Jonathan has looked into various parts of the history of Pilates - Joseph's life during internment and afterwards, the development of his method, the motivation and likely influences towards it, many of the early teachers who were previously unknown, clients whose lives were transformed thanks to Contrology (as the method was named originally by Joseph) and also the early key milestones of the UK history of Pilates. 

​

Jonathan has been delighted to be interviewed for several podcasts and recently felt honoured and privileged to contribute to a new documentary about Joseph Pilates which will premiere in Spring this year. We will keep you posted!!

​

If you would like to join Jonathan's Facebook Group, please send a request to:   Joseph's Legacy - Pilates 100+

​

​​