My commute is short and I generally go at a nice aerobic pace. That gets me 40 minutes (20-20) of "free" base time. Otherwise, I swim 3700-4500 yards twice a week, I hit the trainer for interval work twice a week and I run/walk twice a week. Sometimes I forego the trainer for outdoor rides if its nice enough. I guess my answer is that I don't really count the commute as exercise. Again, I have a short commute.

i lift weights 2-4 times a week, mostly upper body work. we have an exercise room at work and i have a gym near my house.

doing chest, back and shoulders are excellent for fitness. i do desk work all day, (using mouse/keyboard) and use to have soreness in my the back of my shoulder from carpel tunnel after a busy week at work, to the point where it was a sharp pain. (and i'm only 30)

BUT, since doing shoulder exercises the past three years it's completely gone away. just 20-40 minutes a few times a week rotating upper body work is excellent for bone strength, posture, and of course the best side effect is looks.

If I do leg exercises, (like quads/squats) I do them on a weekend, or days where it will snow or I don't expect to bike.

when i started i used www.bodyforlife.com it's not a "get fit quick" program, just simple and straighforward info about all exercises, and for cyclist it's a good system. (high reps, slowly increasing weights). so it focuses on getting buff and lean, but doesn't attempt to make you look like a bodybuilder. with the alternating cardio/weight days your bike commute days already take care of the cardio.

and they have some good demos on how to do exercises
http://www.bodyforlife.com/exercise/animations.asp

YES! I just KNEW there had to a place on the web where crazy people like myself hung out together!

I'm sending this ENTIRE thread to my wife, who thinks I'm insane for going for a run (or playing Ultimate or soccer, or going climbing) after getting home from my commute. "But, honey, it's only a 5-mile ride home! That's not really exercise."

what's funny is that most people who don't exercise (or maybe just go for a weekend hike or skiing), think that we are all fitness fanatics.

granted am very proud of myself for commuting nine mile each way the past three years, but when non regulars pop in to our gym at work to fill up their water or use the locker room to change, the comments are always "wow i wish i had the time" or "you are so focused"

and i appreciate that, BUT i don't consider 30 minutes a day, 2-4 times a week to be that much of a time eater. it's less time than most spend watching TV ONE night a week, plus with biking it just works into my day.

it comes down to just thinking actively. short walks, a bit of cardio (even if it's on an exercise bike), and just eating in modest portions is not that much work but goes a long way to feeling and looking better.

It didn't start out this way but now I do resistance training in the morning, go easy on the commute in (less sweat), then get a cardio workout on the way home through a more difficult and longer ride. It's great for me but the first few weeks were really tough. So tough that I considered quitting the commute. I'm glad I didn't. I'm in the best cardio shape of my life and it is due to the commute. Now if I could just stop eating the junk food and beer as much....

blasphemy! Just ride harder - longer. And enjoy that well earned beer when you get home!

I don't need the gym and a commute. where I am it's called "work"

I really can't stand going to gyms...I think that's probably part of the reason I have taken a liking to cycling, that it's a sport that involves going places and it's not a sport that needs to take place in a gym, as long as you're crazy enough to do it in (almost) all weather, like me (or live on the west coast, where there is no inclement weather -- and you all know it's true if you've ever been to the midwest). Realize that this probably isn't the best fitness plan, but I figure commuting and weekend rides give me a decent cardio workout that I otherwise wouldn't be getting.