I Can't Workout At My Place Anymore

I got a message from the manager at where I live and she said that the people living below me (I live on the third floor) have been hearing noises like objects being dropped on the floor. I know what that's all about. When you live below someone else, it's very easy to hear all kinds of things from the ceiling.

I had been working out with barbells and dumbbells in my bedroom. I had done that for a couple of months now. I had not heard any complaints about it until just now.

Before I moved in I had asked the manager about working out with weights. She said that it was alright as long as I don't drop them. Well, I never drop them, I let it down easy. And I fixed it with having folded up carpeting to muffle any kind of sound. I thought that was working out well. I guess not.

And now I feel terribly depressed. I'm also feeling a sense of shame. So I'm at my wits end. I could go to a gym. That's what everyone tells me. I don't like gyms that much. So I don't know what to do. I feel like I have to work out with the weights because I've done it for years and it had saved my life and done great things for me.

Hello, maybe you can try and workout when the people below you aren't home. Do you know their work schedule? Sometimes that works, then they never know your working out and they won't be able to complain about the noises lol. I hope this possibly helped some. If not, I can try and give you more advice. You're workout is important, I do one everyday. So you shouldn't have to stop because of your downstairs neighbors. Let me know what you think of this advice. Hope it helped

First of all, thank you for replying. I thought that this thread was going to be buried with no replies. Just for the fun of it, I decided to look now and saw your reply.

An update. I have never met the downstairs neighbors personally, so I don't know their schedules. Yesterday morning I knocked on the door and the daughter answered. She didn't appear to know what that was all about. I just wanted to talk and not get mad or anything like that. But later on the manager emailed me saying that I should not try to talk to her. So that really upset me.

What I don't understand is a couple of things. I got the approval from the manager when I was at the place inquiring to rent; I had not signed anything about moving in at that time. And then I wonder, why did it take three months for that woman to complain? Why couldn't she have complained sooner?

I have been terribly depressed this whole weekend about it. It feels like I have just lost a loved one. I'm in a state of grief about this. So I guess we'll see what happens, if anything at all.

You're right that in an apartment it's easy to hear all kinds of things; for months in the corner unit I occupy I heard a couple fighting violently on one side, and another couple having sex very emphatically on the other! If you're positive that it's not your workout they're hearing, then you could just carry on working out in your apartment, because they're going to hear noises no matter what. If you stop working out and they keep on hearing noises, then you'll have compromised your workout for nothing. It doesn't sound like the manager has actually told you to stop working out, and the manager may not have intended to communicate that to you. If he's only passing on a message that they've complained about noise then he may have simply been going through the motions of talking to you.

Perhaps ask the manager for clarification.

This morning a co-worker and I had a talk about this. She's done Real Estate for decades and knows very much everything about it including laws. I showed her the email that the manager had sent to me. The co-worker said that the manager did not say that I can't work out. Well, she's right about that. The manager said that I should modify the way I work out. But that's the question. I don't know how to modify my working out to make it better according to my downstairs neighbor. It would be easy to have that pointed out if only I could talk to the downstairs neighbor. But I am not permitted to.

I just got a copy of the lease and rules of my place. There's one rule saying that excessive noise that creates discomfort to other neighbors is not allowed. So I guess I've been had there. That's all I can say. Oh well.