If you have a busy lifestyle, it might inhibit your ability to find the time to stay fit. These issues are only made more difficult for you by living in an apartment. Working out might feel out of the question with thin walls and neighbors that can hear your every move. That's where quiet apartment cardio comes in.
If you've got limited space and want to get some exercise from home without disturbing your neighbors, this article is for you. Here, I will describe some no-jumping, quiet workouts you can do in the early morning or late at night. Each quiet exercise can boost your endurance, lose weight, and promote wellness without stress.
For a great summary of the exercises described in this article, check out these demonstrations from Rachel Garcia from Workout with Rachel:
Silent Exercises for Apartment Workouts
You might not believe it, but getting a quiet cardio workout is completely possible. Contrary to what you might believe, you can get a great cardio workout without jumping that is both intense and stimulating. You don't even need to buy equipment to engage in the following workouts.
Here are some great examples of things you could do today to get fit and not bother your neighbors:
Marching In Place
Sometimes referred to as walking in place, marching in place is an excellent workout for warming up and boosting your heart rate. It puts no pressure on your joints and shouldn't strain any muscles.
Marching can help prepare your muscles for high-intensity exercise. The routine should also improve the function of your immune system and promote weight loss.
Doing this kind of exercise will get your hips and thighs toned primarily. Secondary muscles include items such as legs, glutes, arms, and core.
To do this exercise effectively, follow the steps below:
- First, stand straight, making sure your elbows are bent 90°. Your feet should be spread a hip-width apart.
- Put your right elbow forward while raising your left knee.
- Then raise your left elbow and right knee, alternating your arms and legs.
Burpees
Burpees are bodyweight exercises working as a combination of push-ups and squat jumps. For a workout in an apartment, this bodyweight exercise targets all muscle groups, but if you're trying to do them quietly in your apartment, you're going to need to eliminate the jumping part.
Because burpees do not require any extra equipment, they're perfect for exercising indoors.
Burpees improve your mental endurance and cardiovascular health through conditioning. Boost your stamina and strength by doing this kind of cardio, helping your body torch calories and burn excess fat.
These exercises target your legs, back muscles, core, chest, and arms.
To keep your burpees workout quiet, you need to move one step at a time. Make sure that the impact of this exercise doesn't negatively impact your knees or joints.
You can do quiet burpees by:
- Take a stance with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Jump and land softly in a squat position.
- Place your hands on the floor with your knees wider than your elbows.
- Keep your back straight and jump your feet back into a plank position.
- Complete a push-up on either your knees or toes.
- Jump your knees back into their previous position.
- Extend your hands out, and stand, lifting them over your head.
- Repeat for each rep.
Boxing
Boxing can be an excellent workout for enhancing your stamina, endurance, and speed. Shadowboxing and sparring are ideal exercises you can do in your apartment without making too much noise. Depending on the intensity, you can tone your arms, legs, shoulders, and core muscles.
Practice boxing by:
- Stand with your feet a shoulder-width apart in a boxing stance
- Always breathe in when you prepare to punch
- Take a jab, extending your hand forward, followed by your foot. Try coordinating movement between your feet and hands.
- Rotate at your hips with one foot forward and pivot your rear foot while extending your other arm. Be careful to distribute your weight evenly with both of your legs. Take the next swing.
- From the hook, your front elbow should be parallel to the floor. Practice ducking, uppercuts, and slips as you throw jabs and cross.
Marching Jacks
Marching Jacks help to tone your arms, legs, and core. They're great for weight loss, but that will depend on how much you're looking to use and how intensely you work out. They improve your flexibility and boost your cardiovascular health as you flex your muscles.
The exercise helps you coordinate your body and keep it balanced. As you improve your strength, you'll be in a better position to reduce your stress levels. It focuses mainly on the muscle groups in your legs, core, and hands.
Marching jacks are done by:
- While standing up as straight as possible, raise your hands overhead.
- Make sure your knee is bent so that your thigh is parallel to the floor.
- Lower your hands and then repeat the movement with your other leg.
- Always land on the balls of your feet first.
Step Jacks
Usually done for warm-up purposes, step jacks are aerobic exercises you can include in your workout program to improve your stamina and flexibility. They're ideal for weight loss around the abdominal area and thighs. This exercise promotes healthy brain function for balanced coordination.
Step jacks work the muscles in your legs, back, and core.
This is how you do step jacks:
- Stand straight, with your arms parallel to your body.
- Step to the right while simultaneously raising your hands straight over your head.
- Revert to your initial position taking a step in the opposite direction, and raise your hands above.
Walking Lunges
Lunges are excellent exercises for toning your legs. Not only do they strengthen your muscles, but they also improve your balance. They ensure body symmetry and increase hip flexibility. The up and down motions increase core stability, while lunges also promote the recovery of your spine.
This exercise works on your thighs, glutes, hip flexors, and legs.
Here's how to do lunges properly:
- Start by standing straight
- Take a huge step forward with your right leg, heel first, then toe.
- Move your body down towards the floor.
- When you reach the bottom of the lunge, your left knee should be bent nearly 90°.
- Push off that leg, and rise back into a standing position.
- Now alternate.
- Continue walking through the lunges, going as far as you can go.
Kick Toe Touch
So you can build strength and stay flexible, this exercise allows you to stretch multiple muscles. It works your hamstrings, glutes, abs, calves, and hip flexors.
You can do this exercise by:
- Stand straight, checking to ensure your core is tight and your back is flat like a board.
- Take one step back using your right leg.
- Kick with your right leg as you step forward.
- Use your left hand to touch your toes.
- Bring your right foot back to starting position and repeat the steps above with your left leg.
- Alternate hands and legs until you've completed your set.
Curtsy Lunges
This is a killer cardio-infused lunge that targets your glutes (the muscles that help pull your legs away from your body’s midline), strengthening your adductors and abductors. And you can do this while remaining completely silent.
Mountain Climbers
Essentially like running planks, this exercise is excellent for energizing your core. The best part about this exercise is that it is light on the floor and won’t make much noise. Despite the running motion, your neighbors won’t hear a thing.
Bear Crawl
This is not a particularly complicated exercise. You probably remember crawling this way before you could walk.
But doing these kinds of exercises is excellent for your arms, shoulders, and glutes. You’re not going to want to miss out on the benefits of this exercise.
Book Push
Like the plate push exercise in the video above, you use a reasonably big textbook as an object to push across the floor instead of using weights. This is one way you can get some exercise while putting dusty old college textbooks to use.
Other Low Impact Exercises
Plank Tuck and Extensions - This exercise is done by going into a plank position, bringing a knee up towards your hands, and then back out into a reverse leg lift. Alternate back and forth on your legs, then try holding dumbbells to redistribute the pressure more effectively.
4 Torso Twists and 2 Kicks - Go into a shallow squat and do four torso twists. Raise your arms over your head and “pull” downward while kicking out each leg.
Deadlift Jacks - Great for balance and total body toning; you do this exercise by doing a single leg deadlift, coming directly up, and lifting the same leg laterally after the deadlift. With arms mimicking a jumping jack, switch supporting legs, and repeat the entire motion.
3 Twists and Knee Ups - Another example of quiet cardio without hardly taking a step. Twist your torso three times, and on the third twist, bring the opposite knee high to your elbow.
Plank Tuck and Extensions - Go into a plank position, bring one knee up towards your hands, then back out, going into a reverse leg lift. Alternate legs. If your wrists start to hurt, try holding a dumbbell to redistribute the pressure more effectively.
Questions and Answers
How do you do cardio in an apartment?
You can do apartment cardio by practicing the exercises above. As long as you don’t have to jump, you can do the activity without disturbing the neighbors.
What is Low Impact Cardio?
These kinds of cardio exercises exert minimal pressure on your joints and are easy on your body. Though these kinds of activities may not generate a lot of noise, they are undoubtedly intense. They're the perfect choice for people that need a sure-fire way to build calories. You can use low-impact workouts for warming up as they reduce the chances of getting injured.
Does Low Impact Cardio promote Weight Loss?
Yes, low impact cardio promotes weight loss, saves you time, and it's perfect for beginners. Just remember that the number of calories that you burn depends on the intensity of your apartment workout.
