You know one of our favorite topics here is How Do You Find Time to Work Out? Well, I think Dave and I recently stumbled on a pretty sure fire way to get ourselves exercising on a daily basis. We’ve both built exercising into our commute.

His office recently relocated to San Francisco. BART and Muni were just far enough away to make the commute a slog, so he’s become committed to bicycling the 3 or 4 miles to work every day.

For me, Bean’s preschool is nearly exactly 2 miles from home, so in the mornings, we take transit there, and then I run back home.

Like no other exercise plan we’ve tried before, this has actually made us exercise. Daily. Because it’s built into our commuting time, it doesn’t take any time out of our schedule. Win win. Now, this may not work in other cities with, say, reliable and fast transit, but in SF, it is actually faster to bike and run than it is to take Muni. (We also live in a geographically small city (7×7 miles!), so we’re not really traversing grand distances or anything.)

I might consider skipping a run one day, but then I contemplate the Muni ride home and I buck up and start jogging. It’s the Muni Fitness Effect. I’ve even passed men and women running to work during my jog, their backpacks bopping behind them.

I’m not sure how this would translate for those of you who live in auto dependent areas, or people who have to drive on the highway for a half hour. Maybe deliberately parking a mile from work to force yourself to at least get a power walk in before and after work? Or, making yourself do a 10-20 minute jog after work before getting into the car to head back home?

If you’ve been struggling trying to find time to exercise, it might be worthwhile to brainstorm how to schedule it into your commute.