apartment based exercising

[jenny25]

I live in an apartment and I don’t always want to go out and run or walk and I hate gyms. SO how do I use a limited amount of space to get my exercise in every day so that I can burn lots of calories? Please keep in mind that I have downstairs neighbours so I also can’t do anything that involves a lot of stomping or machines that make noises.

[chefmel]

I’ve run into exactly the same problem that you have been going through. For one thing, I still try to get out and walk as much as possible, evne if the weather is lousy. As long as you dress for it, it can become quite comfortable. I try to dress slightly too cool at this time of year because once I get going, I’ll end up being very warm and I end up having to unzip my jacket, anyway.

For when you are stuck inside the apartment, try to do things like pilates or get an exercise bike or something like that. A treadmill and other electric things tend to be quite loud so your downstairs neighbors will be banging down your door soon enough, but a good smooth exercise bike should be ok.

[bigbobby]

How big is your building? If you have a few floors, at least, then you can use the stair well as your new exercise machine. Just walk or run up and down all of the stairs until you have given yourself a really good workout. You can listen to music or sing and enjoy the way that the acoustics make you sound better haha.

Just make sure that you choose one that is well lit. You have to think about your safety as one of the important things. If you live in a shady kind of building then this probably isn’t a very good idea. I used to live in a low rise so I had only four floors. But that was more than enough, especially because it was broken down into two flights per floor. So it gave me a lot of stairs. Just make sure that you focus on looking straight ahead, and not down. Otherwise, you might get dizzy after a while.

[Paplo]

How big is your building? If you have a few floors, at least, then you can use the stair well as your new exercise machine. Just walk or run up and down all of the stairs until you have given yourself a really good workout.

This actually works really great. I live in a building that has a stairwell on either end so I just run up the stairs on one end, jog along the hall, then down on the other end. The key is not to slam the fire doors or people get mad after a while.

[Gina]

for an appartment, floor work is probably the best that you can do because you don't have a lot of space to work with compared to a big house that has a basement you can roar around in. You can do a lot with things like pilates or if you find a good floor routine that you enjoy. Try listening to music at the same time and you'll be more driven to keep up with it.

[tracy1976]

The fact is that you just need to get out of the apartment every day or so if you want to get cardio in. You can do your strength training and flexibility exercises inside the apartment but for cardio you just have to get out.

[jenny25]

Thanks so much for all of your ideas and your help, guys. I like the idea of getting the most out of the space that is in the apartment by being more active in my regular everyday tasks, and I’d never even though of using the stairwells before so that’s a great idea. I think I would just stay in the stair well and not run up and down the halls, though.

I also think that you’re right that pretty much when it comes to inside the apartment, it’s going to have to be about strength training and flexibility. While I’ll get the occasional little cardio workout vacuuming etc, I suppose it’s too much to ask to think that I could get the equivalent to a run inside a few hundred square feet of space.

Thanks again guys!