For centuries, Michelangelo's statue of David has been regarded as the epitome of male beauty and perfection, but now it is claimed he is more an example of human frailty, a physical wreck whose poor posture would result in a bad back, a weak hip and ankles and poor flexibility.

Alan Herdman, who brought the Pilates exercise technique to Britain more than 30 years ago, has chosen the 500th anniversary of the statue's unveiling to pronounce David a prime candidate for the fashionable body-conditioning regime.

"If you look at him, he is sitting into one hip. He will have a weakness in one hip and suffer from lower back weakness and pain. His pelvis is all wrong. It is thrust forward and pushing into one hip. The right side isn't straight. In the privacy of your own bathroom, you try standing in that position and see how it feels: not good."

Mr Herdman feels David would be a suitable client for Pilates."I would say that he has all the flexibility of a 500-year-old 17ft marble statue.

"I think we could help, at least with most of his problems. Before long, he would feel a new man, with better posture, a healthier back, hip and ankles, and a new spring in his step. The chances are good if he puts his mind to it."

Mr Herdman conceded David had good legs, but the statue's restorers too had recently confirmed the poor fellow had weak ankles, particularly his left, where a crack was discovered in the 19th century. This was probably caused, not by lack of Pilates, but by subsidence when he stood in Florence's Piazza Della Signoria before being moved to his present home in the Galleria dell'Accademia.

The slight upon David's masculinity is not the first indignity he has suffered. Over 500 years he has had an arm broken by rioters, his body covered in wax to protect him, then later covered in acid to remove the wax, and in 1991 had one of his toes was smashed with a hammer.

Even his recently completed restoration was difficult because the original marble proved of rather poor quality. But is that quite as demeaning as being the subject of a talk in London next week titled "If only he'd done Pilates he wouldn't look so stiff?" Or would his Renaissance creator have benefited from Mr Herdman's everyday Pilates tips for keeping one's back straight while performing mundane tasks such as brushing your teeth or vacuuming?

Poor posture and flexibility

Right side not straight

Sitting into hip, lower back pain

Weak buttock

'Clawed' toes - weak foot muscles

Incorrect weight distribution