The Quiet Workout: An Effective At-Home Workout Plan That Won’t Disturb Your Neighbors
An insane work or school routine, a freak thunderstorm, and packed locker rooms can easily make home workouts more appealing than heading to the gym.
And while sweating it out in your living room may seem like a surefire way to fit in a workout — no long commute or shower line in sight — sometimes it doesn’t turn out quite as well as you’d hoped.
Think: when our downstairs neighbor banged on the front door while doing a squat jump, or when our roommate told us the fifth time we burpeed that he was taking us out. As a rule, if it’s loud, it’s not worth the risk of losing our roomie, or even our neighbor.
So we turned to the professionals, certified personal trainers Lacey Stone and Erin Nemeth, and asked for a solution other than going to an expensive gym.
In this 30-minute, whole-body circuit, you will be performing static holds and bodyweight exercises for a seriously effective workout that will hit all of your major muscle groups. Your roommate will not hear a peep, other than if you’re playing Billie Eilish too loud.
The Silent Exercise
Keen to work up a sweat, but with little or no noise? Do three sets of the following circuit. If necessary, scroll down for complete descriptions of each move.
If you want to make it a competitive game, then time yourself and see if you can make seconds quicker every round. Or for a social spin, Stone says ask your roommate to play an “intellectual” game of “Face-off” — but with the smack talk kept to a whisper.
Dissecting the At-Home Workouts
1. Plywood
Get warmed up and fine-tune the core with a plank to get going with all the muscles in your body. Put palms on the floor shoulder-width apart with elbows under shoulders (as if to perform a push-up).
Press feet firmly into the ground, tighten the buttocks, and fixate your gaze before the floor. Maintain for 30-60 seconds without altering posture.
Challenge: Stand on a medicine ball or a basketball with your hands. No, we didn’t warn you.
2. Squat air
Your feet are hip-distance apart with your toes angled slightly outwards and your arms at your sides. Keep knees bent and press your butt down towards the floor and out to the sides like sitting in a chair. Bend down, arms raised up, parallel to the floor.
Place most weight on the heels, keeping knees from going past toes. Keeping your form correct, bring your knee down to its lowest position. Afterward, straighten legs and squeeze glutes to stand back up again, arms again at the sides.
Make it harder: Hold for 1 second at the bottom of each squat. When standing up, if you have a low surface like a bed, couch, or coffee table, touch your butt to it before you get up.
3. Dip your Triceps
Sit on the edge of your bed or couch with your hands just outside your hips. Hike your body up, and walk your feet out so your knees go over your heels.
Keep elbows bent at a 90º angle. Sit down to be about an inch from the ground. Straighten your arms, pushing your body back up.
Make it harder: Straighten your legs out, rather than keeping a bend in the knees. A hold can be added at the bottom of the exercise as well.
4. Make a Hold-Lunge
Stand with your feet together. Step forward with your left foot. Squat down straight-legged, keeping your left knee over the top of your left foot.
Use the toes of the right foot to lift up as the right back knee rises off the ground. Hold for 3 full counts, then return to the start. Alternate legs.
Challenge yourself: Add two dumbbells or cans of soup from the grocery store to each hand!
5. Superman
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… a simple but deceptive core drill. Lie face down with arms and legs spread out. Neck position at the base of the spine is neutral with head facing the ground.
Lift arms and legs up towards the ceiling, keeping the core engaged, creating an elongated “U” shape with the body. Hold the stretch for 3 seconds at the end range of motion before returning the arm. Hold the stretch for 3 seconds at the end range of the exercise before lowering back down. If you feel any tension or pain in your low back, lower down immediately.
Make it challenging: Hold the pose for 5 or 10 seconds, then run out and do battle with some bad guys!
6. A Russian spin
Sit on the ground. Bend knees so heels are about a foot away from your butt. Slightly lean back (don’t round your back). Raise feet several inches from the floor. You may find that crossing your ankles helps you to maintain your balance.
Hands straight ahead, elbows slightly bent and handclasp. As far as possible from the core, rotate right, following with arms, shoulders and eyes.
Do not lift legs off of starting position. Gently extend fully, pivot on the spot and repeat the stretch to the left.
Make it harder: Have a medicine ball (or heavy textbook) in your arms.
7. Bridge glute
Lying face-up, legs bent, feet on the floor. Both palms should be down and hands at your side. Bring hips up so that your body is straight from shoulders to knees. Maintain for 2 seconds.
Standing on the mat, lift on the tips of your feet to return down. Now slowly lower your butt back down to the ground, one vertebra at a time.
Make it more challenging: Sustain the position for longer. Straightening one leg at a time is also an option.
8. Wall-sitting
Come to a position 2 feet away from a wall, facing away from it. Slide down towards the wall, as if sitting in a chair. As knees are at roughly a 90° angle, squeeze abs, keeping knees on top of toes. Maintain for 30-60 seconds.
Make it more difficult: Lift both heels and hold. It’s possible to grab dumbbells in both hands as well. Why not have a few bicep curls while you’re at it.
