I want to exercise in the morning. I have exercise DVDs that have been collecting dust and I really want to brush them off and use them before work. However, my apartment is on the second floor. I'm a big girl, and I know they will hear me on the first floor. What should I do? I'm so totally non-confrontational. I don't want to disturb my neighbors, but I don't want to get any fatter than I am either. What should I do? It may seem like a no-brainer to a lot of other people, but I'm used to putting other people before me. And I just feel so bad about it....
I totally understand how you feel! Maybe you could ask them what time they wake up during the week and on the weekends? That way, they'll appreciate you asking and maybe they're up before you. If not then there are things you can do that are super hard that don't require a lot of jumping....maybe there is a floor workout section on your dvd? That way,, you can do things like push ups, crunches, lunges, planks, things on a stability ball, etc. Where there's a will there's a way!
Do you live somewhere that has a clubhouse or fitness room or anything? You could even (if you wanted to) take exercise dvd's to the laundry room and play them on your laptop. Actually, you could take the laptop anywhere. I might try that myself. Would be fun to exercise out in the woods by the river...cool beans.
If you have to be in he house to exercise, just explain to them that you want to work out and you also want to be considerate of stomping on their heads and I bet they'll be supportive and let you knwo what time is best for them...maybe they're gone certain times every day or week or whatever. I would be really impressed that someone took my feelings into consideration and would want to help them out.
I worried about this too -- my downstairs neighbor has his mother visiting often and I imagined her in the room downstairs trying to take her nap while the light fixture swayed above ....
I happened to see them in the hallway and told them to let me know if they ever had any problem with noise (not mentioning the exercise videos specifically, because I don't think that would translate culturally, but I'm sure you could tell your neighbors.) If you have a choice of rooms, like if you can watch the videos on your laptop, you can also think about what room would be better, one that they don't use during that time. Again because culturally it would be kind of creepy around here to ask what room Grandma uses, I did it in a sneaky way -- looking at which rooms the light was on and not on when I came in from the parking lot at about the time of evening I usually would do the video. But you could ask your neighbors. I think it's great that you're keeping them in mind, and if they are reasonable people I think they will appreciate it too. If not, pay attention to when their car is in the parking lot and that can tell you what time they leave in the morning. Have you met your neighbors before?
I also got a very thick mat designed for children's play areas, it's almost an inch thick and comes in puzzle piece sections. It's more for me doing pushups and situps, because I have tile floors, but I'm sure it helps with the noise too. You can find them in children's warehouse stores like Toys R Us but also sometimes in Home Depots/Lowes and maybe even in Walmart or Target. It normally lives discreetly under a throw rug.
Last edited by bronzeager; 04-08-2010 at 01:56 AM.
I live on the first floor of a two floor apartment building. To be honest if I were them I wouldn't even notice. I hear a lot of noise from my neighbors just walking up there, I've gotten use to it and now it's nothing really, and if they were to be exercising up there I really wouldn't notice. I honestly wouldn't be worried but maybe you can talk to them about it? Ask them if it's all good?
Last edited by bunnythesAINT; 04-08-2010 at 03:15 PM.
I used to kickbox in my second floor apartment, and my neighbors could hear me. I asked them about it and they told me what times were really terrible for them and said anything else was fine. I tried to keep the hard pounding to the afternoons.
Check with them and see what they say if you are worried.
Thank you all for your suggestions!! The house I live in is really old. Like it was built during the horse and carriage days and so you can hear everything. When my upstairs neighbor walks around the apartment it literally sounds like thunder. But it can't be helped, it's not like I can tell her to use her magic carpet to get to the next room. Which is why I'm so sensitive about my jumping around...
However, you ladies did remind me that there are quieter forms of exercise like stretching, yoga and sit ups. I have these Pilates workouts too. Windsor Pilates purchased from the infomercial. I can do that. Woo hoo!
My next apartment will have to be on the first floor so I can exercise though.
Don't Wanna Wake The Neighbors
