Who's in my boat -- making noise in a sleeping house?

[Biteset]

Here's my situation:

I just started working out again, after completing a move from Oregon to Utah with husband and two small children. (OMG, the move was hard! but the circustances are good.)

I get up early to exercise before anyone else wakes up. For me, it's the only way to be consistent. In my old house, I went down to our basement and could make as much noise as I wanted to.

In my new house--my workout space is in the front room. We live in a small bungalow with wood floors and high ceilings. We don't have much furniture at this point. The house is echoey. The kids' bedroom is not far away, and the master bedroom (with hubby in it) shares a wall with the front room.

I've done a few strength vids, but today finally tried out some cardio--Rhythmic Step. The step is LOUD! And on the floor every footstep, every creak, sounds so loud to me. I was only able to focus enough to complete the first section, because I was so concerned about the noise level.

I do have an 8' by 12' expanse of anti-fatigue puzzle mats, which helps reduce the sound of my shoes hitting the floor. But I still have to step off of it for the bigger moves, and even with the matting, the floor still creaks.

My plan is to get used to this--and to just keep it up and get the family used to sleeping through the noise. My husband has already said to go ahead, and I know he wears earplugs. For the kids, I put a sound machine outside their bedroom door and hope the white noise helps. There are also double windowpane doors closing off the front room.

I'm thinking about stuffing some blankets under the Step to see if it helps muffle that echoey, hollow thudding noise.

And today I'm going to go into the kids room with the sound machine on, and send my husband out to the front room to hop around so I can hear what it sounds like.


Has anyone gotten over and around this issue? Did you ever have a time when you were nervous working out, and had trouble focusing, because you worried about waking people up? Did you get used to it? Did your family? Do you just make a ton of noise and not worry about it? Do you have any noise-reducing or noise-masking tips?

Thanks,

Gisela

 

[Timber99]

When I am concerned about noise, I try to use non-step videos for cardio. Kickboxing doesn't make much noise at all, for example. Then I save my step videos for those days that I end up fitting in a day time or evening cardio or the weekends.

One other thing that I tried was to put a yoga mat under my step. That might be the very same effect that your puzzle mats have though.

Be careful with blankets and things near the step. If they come out from under during your workouts, you may run into a problem where you get tied up and trip!

 

[Biteset]

Christine--yeah, I thought about doing noisy videos in daytime or evening. Trouble is, I have a lousy track record at doing exercise in daytime or evening--I'm just so busy with the little kids. (is that whiny?)

 

[debbydarestobefit]

This may be totally off (or on) the wall ... but have you thought of hanging some things on the walls to help absorb the sound? I wonder if some economical rolls of cork stapled to the conjoining wall might help. Just a thought. Deb

 

[dorothyrd]

Don't know how old the kids are, but my experience is they sleep through anything. Your husband already wears earplugs, so I bet it is OK.

 

[My2girls]

My workout room is the playroom/family room and shares a wall w/my bedroom. I also work out in the morning and my husband can hear me but tells me it's ok. I do find myself not doing big step moves or clapping or jumping on and off step b/c it is soooo loud!! My two girls are very close by but they never seem to notice.

Good luck.
Mary