Ken Endelman

In 1976, Ken began his career as a designer and craftsman of fine custom furniture in Hollywood's fashionable Melrose Avenue district. One day a potential customer came into the store. She taught an exercise called Pilates and wanted Ken to build her a better version of something called a Reformer.

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Ken had never heard of this exercise or equipment, but he was intrigued. He studied the equipment and Joseph Pilates' original designs, then consulted with other instructors to design new features with new materials that would facilitate execution of the movements. The result? A modern Reformer that was smoother, quieter, safer and more user-friendly. And a new career for Ken.

Throughout the 1980s, Ken continued to refine Pilates equipment, consulting with the most influential people in the industry including some of the original students of Joseph Pilates himself: Ron Fletcher, Eve Gentry, Carola Trier, and Kathy Grant. That refinement continues today and keeps Balanced Body at the forefront of Pilates equipment design.

The more Ken continued his work the more fascinated he was by the Pilates method and what he saw it doing in people’s lives. He became deeply connected with the Pilates community and his vision for Balanced Body was to become not just a manufacturer of equipment, but an advocate of this special community. This commitment became dramatically evident when Ken took the lead in the Pilates Trademark Dispute, winning the lawsuit that made the Pilates name freely available to everyone.

Ken Endelman has designed hundreds of improvements to Pilates’ original equipment, many of which have since become industry standards. Balanced Body has been awarded 28 US patents, and numerous foreign patents for his inventions, with more patents pending.