Exercise in an apartment?

beabria
beabria Posts: 541 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I like to do most of my exercise at home (that way I have no "but I don't feel like going to the gym" excuse). But, I've recently moved to a third floor apartment, and am trying to find new cardio workouts that won't make my downstairs neighbors' lights fall off their ceilings. So, jumping around is unfortunately out of the question. Right now, I'm doing a lot of exercises with my step and high-leg marching in place, but I'd love some variety. Any ideas - either individual moves or routines/videos?

Edit: Oh, and I should mention what sort of equipment I have. Obviously the step, several levels of hand weights, stretchy bands, yoga mat, and jump rope (no use for that one now.) I'm also thinking of getting a bosu ball.

Replies

  • blackcoffeeandcherrypie
    blackcoffeeandcherrypie Posts: 486 Member
    I bought a closed-cell foam mat from ebay and it's amazing how much noise and vibration it cut out - maybe look into that to expand your exercise options?
  • OddChoices
    OddChoices Posts: 244 Member
    Leg raises lying flat on the floor. Great for Abs but also great cardio.
  • wharkins
    wharkins Posts: 15 Member
    hulu hoop
  • sarrah_n
    sarrah_n Posts: 192 Member
    Kettle bells have added a bit of variety for me and it doesnt require a large amount of space.
  • StrongSandra
    StrongSandra Posts: 21 Member
    Ask your neighbors if there are any scheduled days/times when they wouldn't mind you jumping around above them (do they go to class in the evenings, or go to the gym, maybe have a weekend hobby that takes them away, etc).
  • supbanana
    supbanana Posts: 37 Member
    Are there stairs in your building? Is it possible to walk up and down them a couple times a day? Three flights of stairs is pretty good cardio.
  • AmyFett
    AmyFett Posts: 1,607 Member
    I have the same issue. My house is about 200 years old and we had OLD OLD OLD wood floors. My downstairs neighbor is a ***** and calls the landlords on my kids just being kids. I'm seriously afraid to work out. Obviously the landlords brush her complaints off about the kids, it's not like they're up at midnight running around and stuff. But the only time I get 'free' time to actually work out is late at night, so I kind of just...don't work out lol.
  • emmarie1630
    emmarie1630 Posts: 58 Member
    I've been there! I lived in various 3rd floor apartments in college for 3 years. It also didn't help that I'm a night owl so I liked to exercise at night. After the neighbors beat on the ceiling once or twice I had to stop that. haha So first of all my advice would be to do it during the day, and it couldn't hurt to give your neighbors a heads up or as someone mentioned before work out a reasonable time. And I'm sure they'd be much more accepting of some noise at 4 or 5 in the afternoon than later at night. In small spaces I liked to play fitness and dance games on the wii and wii fit- not sure if that will help you. Currently I'm doing Jillian Michaels 30 day shred which may be a good option. There is some jumping involved periodically- jumping jacks, etc but it's for a short period of time (the whole workout is around 25mins) so it probably wouldn't be too bad. Good luck! :)
  • Amberonamission
    Amberonamission Posts: 836 Member
    Bribe the downstairs neighbors, apologize sincerely apologize and tell them it will not be more than an hour a day.

    When I did this to my downstairs neighbors they just said "oh, good going".
  • pigeonhugger
    pigeonhugger Posts: 81 Member
    talk to them. like other people have said- see when they will be out or reassure them its only for one hour. If they know how long the ''noise'' will last and why i think they will be more forgiving.
  • robindina
    robindina Posts: 157 Member
    I'm also on the 3rd floor with wood floors, so I'm super paranoid about being to loud. I did notice with the Julian target area videos, there was very little jumping and you do a lot of mat work so that maybe an option. I also work out when I know most of the neighbors are gone.
  • Illona88
    Illona88 Posts: 903 Member
    I used to live in a building that had a main stair well and a stair well at the back, that nobody ever used.
    I used to just run up and down the stairs in that stair well.

    Other than that I always just go for a walk in the woods or in another nice area. Some fresh air is really nice as well.

    Also yoga is a pretty good workout (also good for your mental well being) and is really quiet.
  • m23gm25
    m23gm25 Posts: 153 Member
    Richard Simmons Sweating to the Oldies.
  • beabria
    beabria Posts: 541 Member
    Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely being giving some a try. I guess my concern isn't only with bugging my neighbors, but with possibly even damaging something. Jumping up and down repeatedly has got to be bad for the floor/ceiling. And I can't say how humiliated I would be if I had to pay because a light fixture fell or something! :-/
  • anemoneprose
    anemoneprose Posts: 1,805 Member
    Low-impact / low-sound cardio moves:

    - Kicking! Fast, high kicks. Mix them into other moves to add cardio intensity, e.g., squat + kick, lunge + kick, step + kick (or knee raise). Or do a set of straight kicks. One rep = front/side/rear, on one leg. You can do 20/leg for a set.

    - Squats for time, lunges* for time, step-ups for time. Or add dumbbells. (If so, adding: dumbbell swings from a squat position.) Single leg squats (pistol squats). The weight will add both aerobic intensity and give a bit of muscular endurance benefit. You can get a set of 40 lb adjustable dumbbells on Amazon.com cheaply.

    - Burpees/squat thrusts. You can double up mats beneath you, or step your legs out vs jumping, and use 'soft landing' (roll onto whole foot, toes first) for the jump up at the end.

    - Pushups, in all their variations. One I liked from Zuzka Light was basically a plank + rear leg lift. Dive-bombers. Pushups with legs on a table. Jackknife on a swiss ball.

    - Turkish getups

    - Mountain climbers

    - 10 high knees, drop to the ground, get up, repeat for 10 reps.

    * so many you can do: co-contraction lunges, rear leg elevated lunges, walking lunges, reverse lunges, sliding lunges (put a slipper onto your rear foot to slide back, better for glutes), side lunges

    Together in a Zuzka-style routine:

    - Straight kick set, 1 min per leg
    - Pushups, 1 min
    - Dumbbell swings, 1 min
    - Burpees, 1 min
    - Lunge + kick, 1 min per leg
    - Jackknife, 1 min
    - Step-ups, 1 min per leg

    10 seconds rest between moves; do 2-3 times, 1 min rest between sets.

    Hula hooping is something I want to try soon, too!

    NB: clear a path around you for all the kicking ;)

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