Do you think it's rude to do noisy cardio in an apartment?

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  • Rachifloon
    Rachifloon Posts: 129 Member
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    To echo what many others have said, discuss it with your neighbour. Let them know you will be doing exercises that may be noisy and ask them what times they won't be home/don't mind a bit of noise for an hour. Also be considerate if they have young children that may be sleeping at various points of the day too.
  • rachelrb85
    rachelrb85 Posts: 579 Member
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    I used to have these neighbors that were either fighting and throwing things at each other or having sex very loudly (making up from the fighting). So there are worst rude things to do.

    If your apartment is old and squeaky and you know for sure they are home when you want to do your workouts, I might think twice before doing so. But if your apartment is sound and you're pretty sure they're not home I would think you are good to go.
  • tanyoshka
    tanyoshka Posts: 50 Member
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    I would be nervous as well, but there has to be a way for you to be able to live your life anyway. My suggestion, leave them a note explaining your plan. Invite them to let you know if that time is horribly inconvenient. Otherwise, maybe 3 taps with the broom handle to say "I'm trying to take a nap/have company over/etc" Just a thought. I suppose it depends on your neighbors.
  • ljmorgi
    ljmorgi Posts: 264 Member
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    Remember that you're paying for your apartment to live in it.

    If you receive a complaint, then it might be rude but until that happens there's no point worrying about it much since it may be a non-issue.

    Personally, I would never talk to my neighbour in my apartment (it's inappropriate plus there are rules against it in my apartment - not if you're friends or anything - but no complaint should go direct from tenant to tenant). If you really want to "ask for permission", you should talk to your caretaker/landlord and have them contact your downstairs neighbour.

    Your downstairs neighbor is paying for his apartment; third-shift workers have rights too. I would definitely ask via whatever process.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    Get a gym mat, or thick piece of carpet and do any jumping around on that. Should take care of any excessive noise issues. If not, your apartment building is poorly built and I guarantee your downstairs neighbors can hear every tiptoe, whisper, and sneeze. In which case, you might as well go ahead and do what you're going to do. You're making noise anyway, right?

    Really, any reasonable noise during the day is fine, annoying or not. If your downstairs neighbors are that sensitive, they need to move to the top floor, because you can't be so quiet that you won't ever be heard without being completely irrational about it.
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,953 Member
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    Remember that you're paying for your apartment to live in it.

    If you receive a complaint, then it might be rude but until that happens there's no point worrying about it much since it may be a non-issue.

    Personally, I would never talk to my neighbour in my apartment (it's inappropriate plus there are rules against it in my apartment - not if you're friends or anything - but no complaint should go direct from tenant to tenant). If you really want to "ask for permission", you should talk to your caretaker/landlord and have them contact your downstairs neighbour.

    Your downstairs neighbor is paying for his apartment; third-shift workers have rights too. I would definitely ask via whatever process.

    Yes, but the odds are in favour of that person having a day job. Statistics. Don't make something into an issue until it is. If you get a complaint, that's when you stop. Otherwise is IS safe to assume the person doesn't care (and if they choose not to complain, that's their prerogative). That's the nature of apartment living. It is not the same as a house and you don't go in expecting the same privacy or noises that a house would have.

    For example: I don't complain that the little kid above me stomps around for hours every day - which I can hear even through the concrete floors. Why? Because it doesn't bother me (kids should keep moving!). I also don't complain that I can hear my other neighbours urinate through the walls every single time. Why? Because I feel it's important to urinate when you need to. I also don't complain that my neighbours 5:00 am shower scares the poop out of me every morning when they switch from tub faucet to shower head, even though it wakes me up. Again... I'd prefer they shower. If a neighbour is exercising - I feel that is a physical need as well and it's not going to last that long. IF I were to have a night job, MAYBE I would say something, but you'd be surprised what people can sleep through! And I'm a light sleeper! My apartment even has an exercise room right next to someone's suite. Just that it's off limits after 10:00 pm due to noise.

    Also, I'm not sure how old your apartment building is, but I can tell you that developers for newer places go through painstaking efforts to reduce noise from suite to suite. They build double walls with air voids and they insulate the walls even though it's not exterior. They may even put extra dry wall on or spray foam insulation into the floors. They also often install noise channel to help provide additional air voids to reduce vibrational noises. In other words... it sounds louder to you than it does to them! So really, just do what you need to do while trying to be considering but don't stress about it unless they say something. This will be a fine method in 80 - 90% of the cases.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    Remember that you're paying for your apartment to live in it.

    If you receive a complaint, then it might be rude but until that happens there's no point worrying about it much since it may be a non-issue.

    Personally, I would never talk to my neighbour in my apartment (it's inappropriate plus there are rules against it in my apartment - not if you're friends or anything - but no complaint should go direct from tenant to tenant). If you really want to "ask for permission", you should talk to your caretaker/landlord and have them contact your downstairs neighbour.

    Your downstairs neighbor is paying for his apartment; third-shift workers have rights too. I would definitely ask via whatever process.

    They do - they have the right to have their neighbors follow the rules of the apartment complex, which I can guarantee include times when normal noise is perfectly fine, and times when you are expected to be more quiet.

    If someone has issues with needing to sleep during the day, and has problems sleeping through noise, then they can get a top floor apartment, or look into white noise machines, ear plugs, and so forth. Just as I would hope they had the foresight to get an apartment without a bedroom window or where the sun can be blocked if they have problems sleeping when it is light outside.
  • fivethreeone
    fivethreeone Posts: 8,196 Member
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    Noisy cardio is the best! It might be rude during the day, but your neighbors will soon grow to respect you if you are consistent with it at night,
  • vegkitten
    vegkitten Posts: 106 Member
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    I off and on play DDR usually at the later hours of the night, and I live on the second story. If my neighbors complained, I would for sure stop, but they've never said anything, so I'm thinking that I don't make as much noise as I think I do.
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
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    I off and on play DDR usually at the later hours of the night, and I live on the second story. If my neighbors complained, I would for sure stop, but they've never said anything, so I'm thinking that I don't make as much noise as I think I do.
    Back when I was in an apartment, I actually got a first floor apartment because of this very reason.
  • ChantalGG
    ChantalGG Posts: 2,404 Member
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    if you are in a duplex and you are boucing the walls and floors around then yes it is rude. If you are in a large building wiht solid floors then you should be fine, that workout is short. I used to do it but i had a 2 story apartment and i worked ou ton the second of my floors. My neighbour was a b*tch so i wouldnt of done it down where she could hear.
  • Galatea_Stone
    Galatea_Stone Posts: 2,037 Member
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    It isn't rude. It's the middle of the day, it's an hour at most, and you have a right to reasonable use and enjoyment of your apartment (that's legalese for he probably can't even make you stop). IF your neighbor has a night job and needs to sleep, that's another matter. If your neighbor is simply a lazy *kitten* who naps all the time and thinks s/he owns the planet and you must walk on egg shells around him/her, then jump harder.
  • mabug01
    mabug01 Posts: 1,273 Member
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    It is problematic. I believe many people don't complain when the noise is bad because they don't want to make the problem worse; as in, you never know who is going to open that door when you knock on it - are they going to retaliate in some way? I wouldn't just assume that everything is OK just because no one complains - that is sticking your head in the sand. Loud banging noises are heard by more than the one downstairs neighbor; they are heard by anyone that shares a beam with your apartment - people on both sides of you, for instance. I think if your complex has a gym, then the expectation is that you will exercise there, and not in your apartment. Apartments are not single family homes and communal living requires certain compromises. I think you have good instincts in this case.
  • ShibaEars
    ShibaEars Posts: 3,928 Member
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    I don't think it's rude if it's during the day. And it would be for a shorter period of time, ti's not like you'll be working out noisily for 4 or 5 hours (...right?) Surely, your neighbours can deal with a bit of noise for 30-60 minutes? Everyone should realize it's an apartment building, it's close quarters and you're going to hear your neighbours at some point or another.

    I realize its not quite the same, as I don't have anyone living beneath me, but I live in a duplex, and I can hear the kids running around next door, the odd door slam and what not. I don't feel bad about making noise during the day at all (ok, I may try to keep it down a bit if it's the afternoon in case their baby may be napping) but I don't drastically alter my life because I have neighbours attached to me. I'll keep my music and other noises down usually after 8:00 pm because I know they have little kids who most likely go to bed early.

    I did Insanity, and I'm sure the neighbours heard me jumping around a bit, but I always did my workout around suppertime, and never had any complaints.
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,012 Member
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    I'd just do the noisy cardio whenever you could fit it in..

    I fit it in whenever I can.
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
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    Do the cardio than go ask if they can hear it.

    I remember one time, a much larger version of me and three friends we're doing Carmen Electra's Aerobic Strip Tease in my upstairs living room floor, the neighbor was pissed.

    Flash forward, no one can hear anything I'm doing, especially if alone.

    It depends on the movement, the time, the weight of the person doing it, how your apartment is built...


    Etc.. etc.. etc..
  • silver_arrow3
    silver_arrow3 Posts: 1,373 Member
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    Hahah what kind of cardio are you doing that is THAT noisy!?

    I just feel like anything with jumping is loud and annoying. Jump squats, jogging in place, burpees... all of that.

    I actually tiptoe in my apartment after 8pm because I'm paranoid about the neighbor hearing me walk at night. I once moved in somewhere and on the first day the downstairs neighbor said to us that he hated the previous tenants because he could hear them walking around all day. I took that comment to heart, I guess.

    That's excessive.

    If you live in an apartment- there is some reasonable expectations you'll hear people doing daily things- like- walking.

    I had elephants for neighbors. I heard them ALL the time.
    Fine-whatever. It was okay.

    I drew the line at screaming fist fights and called the cops on their sorry a**'s.

    Practice jumping with soft landings- burpees aren't too loud on the way down- the jump for me winds up uncontrolled so try really controlling it for a soft landing. It's a good way to practice by doing them controlled and quiet.
    I found with my current place- I have upstairs neighbors- and my basement down stairs- any jumping was just to loud- (to me) and I opted out of it- but I have room on my porch so I do it on the porch.

    My old place- I could do stuff in the stair well- so you could try there- I used the stairs and the concrete landing quiet a bit at my old place.

    It's not THAT excessive. I lived in an apartment where our downstairs neighbors would come banging on our door when we kicked our shoes off - not an exaggeration. Then any time we had people over despite the activity (watching movies, sitting around eating dinner and laughing), the cops would show up at our door.

    Now every apartment that we live in, we are incredibly paranoid that the cops will show up at our door because we are breathing too loudly.
  • greenestar
    greenestar Posts: 4 Member
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    Nope I would maybe talk to the people below to see if there is a time when it is least disruptive and give them a time frame of how long the workout lasts.
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
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    Do the cardio than go ask if they can hear it.

    I remember one time, a much larger version of me and three friends we're doing Carmen Electra's Aerobic Strip Tease in my upstairs living room floor, the neighbor was pissed.

    Flash forward, no one can hear anything I'm doing, especially if alone.

    It depends on the movement, the time, the weight of the person doing it, how your apartment is built...


    Etc.. etc.. etc..

    ETA sometimes my neighbor vacuums her room right above my bed, and I can just barely... barely... barely hear it. No bother at all. I live in a thicker building now. The other was cardboard.

    Just ask.

    Also, why don't you know your neighbor?

    Go meet your neighbor.

    Be in the community.

    I might help a lot someday to know their name and who they are.

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