Silent Strength: Minimal Noise Workouts to Not Annoy Neighbors

By: Xander Murthwaite

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Intro

Living in a close-quartered room with limited sound insulation comes with many challenges – especially when you want to exercise. If you’ve ever worried about disturbing your neighbors when jumping around or dropping weights, you’re not alone. It can be frustrating to feel as if your living space offers you little-to-no flexibility when exercising. However, that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice an effective workout. In this post we will be going over exercises that you can incorporate into your at-home workouts that build endurance and strength. And don’t worry, you won’t need to perform any high-impact movements that will make too much noise.

How to Set Up your Workout Area

Being at home, you may not have access to a lot of gym equipment, which is fine for this workout split. Although not required, we recommend a pair of dumbbells and an exercise mat.

Exercises:

Wall sit shoulder presses

• Sit against a wall with your knees facing a 90 degree angle
• Use either light dumbbells or find light household objects
• Slowly overhead press the weight of choice
• Keep your core engaged and back against the wall at all times

Slow goblet squats

• Find a dumbbell or heavy household object
• Keep feet shoulder width apart facing forward
• Lower into a squat by controlling the rep for 5 seconds
• Hold the bottom position for 5 seconds
• Squeeze your glutes and hamstrings
• Keep core tight and chest up to maintain balance

Dips

• Find a stable chair or bench
• Lower yourself from the edge of the seat with your hands supporting you
• Grip each hand, hip distance away and knuckles facing forward
• Keep legs extended
• Bend your elbows keeping them tucked close to your body
• Lower yourself until elbows reach a 90 degree position
• Press down with your palms until arms are in the starting position

Slow push ups

• Start in a high pus-up position with palms in a flat forward faced position
• Lower yourself down in roughly 3 seconds
• At the bottom, hold and squeeze for a second
• Take another 3 seconds to slowly come back up to starting position
• Feel free to use your knees as a substitute

Plank

• Lie face down and place your forearms flat on the ground, with your elbows directly beneath your shoulders
• Use the tip of your toes and forearms to push yourself up from the floor
• Keep your spine and head in a straight position
• Keep your hips level – don’t lower or raise them too much
• Try to do at least 30 secs – 2 mins
• Breathe and keep your core tight

Single-leg glute bridge

• Lie on your back, with one foot up, and the other one planted
• Press through using your planted heel to elevate your hips
• Slowly lower yourself back to the normal position and repeat

Russian twists

• Sit on the floor and lean back slightly
• Hold on object with both hands and rotate your torso side-to-side
• Lift your feet off the ground and balance yourself

Superman holds

• Lie face down with hands interlocked and rested on the top of your head
• Lift your chest, arms, and legs off the floor
• Hold this position for at least 20 seconds
• Squeeze your upper back and shoulders

Exercise Split

Exercise	Equipment	Reps and Sets
Wall sit shoulder press	Dumbbells/Household items	3×15
Slow goblet squat	Dumbbell/Household items	3×8-12
Dips	Stable seat/chair	3×10
Slow push ups	Yoga mat (optional)	2×10
Plank	Yoga mat	30secs-1:30 min x 2
Single glute bridge	Yoga mat	3×15 each side
Russian twists	Yoga mat and heavy object (optional)	3 x 30
Superman holds	Yoga mat	2×12

Conclusion

These workouts offer a wide sense of flexibility and effectiveness. Doing this workout a 3 times a week has many benefits, like building muscle, improving endurance, and enhancing your cardio, while maintaining a quiet living environment. Its not required, but a yoga mat and some adjustable dumbbells would go great with some of these exercises. A mat gives you a more comfortable space that prevents too much pressure on your joints, as opposed to lying on the hard floor. If you don’t have any dumbbells feel free to use any household objects- such as water gallons, bottles, bricks, get creative! Feel free reach out if you enjoyed the workout split and let us know if you have any insight on improvements.