I blame my tailor. Fifteen years ago, he made me a lovely suit. I went back for a replacement recently and he measured me, then looked up the old statistics in the book. “Well,” he said glumly, “look on the bright side. At least you’re roughly the same height.”

Back home, I took a long, hard look at myself in the mirror. Then I turned the light on, and things looked even worse. A few years back, I was trained for this newspaper by the enviably chiselled celebrity sweat-broker Matt Roberts, who, although he never gave me a body like his, did instil in me a continuing appetite for a reasonable amount of exercise. Over the past 12 months, though, just like the inflatable schoolboy, I had let him down and let myself down. It was time to reboot his programme.

However, I was bored with gyms, especially the windowless basement down the road, and I wondered if it was possible to use holidays and weekends to fill in at least some of the gaps in my exercise routine where the StairMaster should be. I called Matt and he said, certainly, and between us we came up with a series of breaks that offer seven easy steps to fitness — and one hard one. Just slot in at the level that feels appropriate. Me, I’m going back to the beginning.

WALKING

Why? When I was first interviewed by Mr Roberts, he advised me to start by walking, a lot. “Too many people leap straight in at the deep end in exercise. If you haven’t done much before, or are out of condition, walking is the best low-impact, low-cost way to get muscle working and blood pumping once more.”

How? Many local councils run free guided walks, or the Ramblers Association (020 7339 8500, www.ramblers.org.uk) has a nationwide network of volunteers offering urban and country walks to suit beginners. Even if you aren’t a member (£24 individual, £32 family), you can do two or three as a guest before they start asking for dues. The website is full of ideas and routes, with an easy-to-use “walks finder” search facility.

Or try a holiday outfit such as Inntravel (01653 617906, www.inntravel.co.uk), which has guided and self-guided walks that range from strolls to scrambles. It has six nights’ grade-one walking in the Lot Valley, ambling between three hotels while your luggage is transported ahead for you, from £615pp, including six nights, half-board, two picnics and ferry crossing. With two nights spent in each hotel, the foot-weary can always choose to skip a day’s walking, cuddling up to a bottle of Cahors, before they move on to the next destination. Or try ATG Oxford (01865 315 678, www.atg-oxford.co.uk) or Waymark (0870 950 9800, www.waymarkholidays.com).

CYCLING

Why? As long as you select your bike (and saddle) correctly, this is another low-impact introduction to exercise. According to Sustrans, the cycle pressure group, you burn 100 calories for every 20 minutes of pedalling, and regular cycling gives you the body of someone 10 years younger (although if you are a teenager, you probably don’t want that).

How? The only serious drawback to cycling is other road users on this traffic-clogged island. However, the National Cycle Network covers 10,000 miles, and about one-third of it is totally traffic-free, removing the prime cause of nervousness among debutant bike riders. You can find easy routes in all parts of the country, and free leaflets about them on the Sustrans website (www.sustrans.org.uk). For instance, the Ayrshire Coast Cycleway (19 miles one way, but nobody is making you do all of it), Colliers Way (Dundas Aqueduct to Frome, Somerset; 17 miles) or Chester to Connah’s Quay (eight miles) all offer a soft intro.

Country Lanes (0845 370 0668, www.countrylanes.co.uk) organises self-guided riding breaks in the UK. Two nights, B&B, in the New Forest costs from £175pp sharing, including cycling equipment, helmet, panniers and maps, route advice (important if you want to avoid busy roads), a cream tea and a New Forest guidebook.

A good introduction to cycling abroad is Freewheel Holidays’ (01636 815636, www.freewheelholidays.com) 10-day Into the Valley of the Alps tour, which really does freewheel through wonderful Alpine scenery. Most of the route is downhill and traffic-light, following cross-country ski tracks, quiet village trails and purpose-built pathways. It costs £949 (£719 for children), including Salzburg airport transfers, route notes and maps, luggage transfers, and nine nights’ hotel accommodation with breakfast, plus two evening meals. Flights are extra. Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com) flies to Salzburg from Stansted, and British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) flies from Gatwick.

Other good suggestions will come from Activity Wales (01437 765777, www.activity wales.com), Cycling for Softies (0161 248 8282, www. cycling-for-softies.co.uk) and Saddle Skedaddle (0191 265 1110, www.skedaddle.co.uk).

EXERCISE AND NUTRITION

Why? Because if you are going to get fit, getting the diet right is vital, too.

How? The personal trainer, marathon runner and sports therapist Joe Shepherd, of Dorset Fitness Holidays (01929 423880, www.dorsetfitnessholidays.com), reckons more than 50% of his clients want to lose weight as well as improve their fitness, and he helps them on their way by personally designing a week- or weekend-long programme. “Many of them have tried faddy diets. I have to shock them by telling them that now they will not be eating less, just correctly,” he says. “You won’t see results after a weekend, but by the end of it, people will have a clear set of goals and a strategy.” He reckons one-fifth of his clients come back for a “booster” session. “My job is to show people how the combination of exercise and proper diet can make them happy.” B&B at Vernon Lodge, DFH’s base, costs £50-£70 per room per night, and Shepherd charges £55 an hour for personal training, massage and nutritional consultations on top of that.

If you want to go further afield, Potential Energy (00 33 5 61 96 17 66, www.potential-energy.co.uk) has an excellent KickStart Programme in the French Pyrenees, with an emphasis on long-term aims, a healthy diet, stress reduction and motivation. It costs £699 for seven nights, B&B, and an average of six or seven hours per day of contact time with trainers.

Healthy Options Holidays (01920 484515, www.healthy-option.co.uk) combines yoga, Pilates and “Mediterranean nutrition advice” on the Greek island of Lefkas. One week costs from £399, room-only, flights included.

YOGA

Why? Because as well as building up your strength and stamina, you need some flexibility, which will help prevent injury.

How? Combine yoga with walking at Finca el Moro (00 34 959 501079, www.fincaelmoro.com), a 75-acre olive and sweet-chestnut farm in Andalusia. Daily yoga practice in a purpose-built centre is coupled with guided walks through the hill country of the Sierra de Aracena and a week’s full-board with vegetarian food (much of it grown organically on the farm). Yoga weeks run on selected dates between May and September; seven nights cost from £650pp, including transfers to and from Seville and full-board accommodation. The price does not include flights, but Seville is served by Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com) from Stansted, Liverpool and Dublin, and Aer Lingus (0818 365000, www.aerlingus.com) from Dublin.

For those who feel the usual pampering spa break is too soft, In:Spa (0845 458 0723, www.inspa.co.uk) has initiated special Intense weeks, when yoga, running, cycling, hiking, massage, nutritional consultations and beach circuit classes are the order of the day (resulting in “a calm mind”, and possibly an aching body). Seven nights on Ibiza in October will cost from £1,950pp, including all meals and drinks, yoga classes and physical activities, plus a consultation and three massages. Flights are extra. Try EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) or Jet2 (0871 226 1737, www.jet2.com).

Other specialists include Erna Low Body & Soul holidays (020 7594 0290, www.ernalow.co.uk), Thermalia (0870 165 9420, www.thermalia.co.uk), Free Spirit (01273 564230, www.freespirituk.com), Lotus Journeys (020 8968 3666, www.lotusjourneys.co.uk) and Wellbeing Escapes (0845 602 6202, www.wellbeingescapes.co.uk).

A NEW SKILL

Why? When Roberts was training me, after a few weeks he suggested I learn a new activity, one that would help redistribute the muscle blocks that were being worked. I suggested the guitar, he threw down rock-climbing or tennis, so we settled on kayaking.

How? It doesn’t have to be kayaking, but as I was doing a lot of legwork — walking, running and cycling — at the time, I thought it would help my upper body. I learnt to do it in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, in the USA, but you can have a similar experience much closer to home. The Adventure Company (0845 450 5311, www.adventurecompany.co.uk) has a variety of sea-kayaking trips exploring the Dalmatian islands and coast near Dubrovnik. Its eight-day family-based Kids in Kayaks costs from £669 per child and £699 per adult. This includes flights from Heathrow, all transportation and kayak tuition, seven nights’ B&B, and the services of a group leader. Also in Croatia, Original Travel (020 7978 7333, www.originaltravel.co.uk) has three nights’ B&B, with two days’ private sea kayaking, guiding, flights and transfers, from £710pp.

The mother lode of multiactivity is Queenstown in New Zealand, but the small Slovenian town of Bovec is aiming to take its crown. With the Julian Alps above, the River Soca below and the Triglav National Park at the back door, there are up to a dozen adventure companies organising skydiving, rock climbing, potholing, bungee-jumping, kayaking, rafting, hiking and skiing; see www.bovec.si. Croatian Affair (020 7385 7111, www.croatianaffair.com) features Slovenia and can advise on kayaking and rafting in Bovec. The price for a week at the Mulej Tourist Farm in Bled starts at £378pp, B&B, including flights from Gatwick. Prices for rafting/kayaking start at about £17pp, including equipment, transport, guide and insurance.

MIND EXERCISE

Why? “You have to realise that being fit in the body is only part of the journey. You must make sure your consciousness is exercised as well,” was how my counsellor at Miraval Spa put it when I turned up my nose at one of the new-age therapies. I was highly cynical, but by the end of the week, I was whispering to horses, standing on top of telegraph poles, banging drums and running past snoozing rattlers in the early-morning desert air.

How? Situated on the outskirts of Tucson in the Sonoran Desert, Miraval: Life in Balance (00 1 520 825 4000, www.miravalresort.com) offers a comprehensive programme of activities for mind, body and spirit, all included in the price of £315pp per night, together with three meals and a treatment.

Time for a long stretch Phoenix is the gateway to Arizona, and BA (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) flies there from £369.

Closer to home, Heartspring Retreats (01267 241999, www.heartspring.co.uk) in southwest Wales is an ecofriendly (and nontoxic, they claim) property in a lovely conservation area. Its wellbeing short-breaks programme offers yoga, massage, meditation, counselling and a variety of complementary therapies; from £250pp for three nights, full-board (organic vegetarian food); therapies start at £20. Also try The Retreat Company (0116 259 9211, www.theretreatcompany.com), which lists dozens of retreats, workshops and life-coaching courses worldwide.

GO EXOTIC

Why? Because variety is the route to keeping up your motivation. Although five-star hotels in glamorous destinations often have high-tech gyms and programmes, most people find far too many temptations to distract them. On the holidays below, you’ll be in the hands of serious, dedicated trainers who are unlikely to let you sleep by the pool all day.

How? Wildfitness (0845 056 8343, www.wildfitness.com) operates on Kenya’s magnificent Watamu beach. It caters for all ages and fitness levels, although clients are usually looking for serious progress. Courses last from nine days to five weeks, and you stay at ecofriendly and rustic Baraka, which overlooks the Indian Ocean. The programme includes swimming, running, weights, circuits, games, and the possibility of deep-sea fishing, sailing, scuba-diving, windsurfing and kitesurfing. Well-worked bodies are soothed with massage, stretching, yoga and meditation. A nine-day kick-start costs from £2,205pp (based on two sharing), including full-board, training sessions, one-on-one assessments, workshops and massages. Flights and insurance are extra. Kenya Airways (01784 888222, www.kenya-airways.com) flies from Heathrow to Malindi (via Nairobi) from £396.

Or you could go to Brazil. Run by refugees from California’s fabled skinny farm The Ashram, Body & Soul Adventures (020 3002 0936, www.bodysouladventures.com) offers a “life-changing” programme in Ilha Grande, with ocean kayaking, walks along spectacular coastal paths, rainforest hikes, daily yoga and massages. Prices are from £1,400 per week, including all food, treatments, excursions and classes, but not flights. BA (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) flies from Heathrow to Rio from about £700.

LeSport on St Lucia has BodyGuards (fitness advisers) to recommend activities from scuba and fencing to yoga and cycling, all to improve your health. “Give us your body for a week and we’ll give you back your mind,” they promise, rather enigmatically. Caribtours (020 7751 0660, www.caribtours.co.uk) has a one-week BodyHoliday at LeSport on an all-inclusive basis from £1,595pp (£1,639 for solo travellers), including flights from Gatwick or Manchester. Closer to home, both Run in the Sun (0844 734 4556, www.runinthesun.com; from £420, B&B, for seven days) and Rio Frio (0870 068 8173, www.rio-frio.com; £300, B&B) offer training breaks in Spain; flights extra.

PEAK FITNESS

Why? Because it’s time to take that nicely honed body to altitude, where it will work even harder. Nothing challenges the new muscles like an ascent.

How? Walks Worldwide (01524 242000, www.walksworldwide.com) recommends testing your mettle with The Swiss 4000ers (the level is “strenuous at times”). Switzerland has more peaks over 13,000ft than any other European country, with several of them within the ability of the average walker on a week’s holiday. Training will be given in the use of crampons and ice axe by a certified mountain guide, and an acclimatisation programme will be followed as the group climbs a succession of summits, from Weissmies (13,100ft) and Strahlhorn (13,700ft) to the majestic massif that is the Alphubel (13,800ft). Extended walking on glaciers and steep climbs over rugged terrain are the norm, but you are rewarded with staggering views of the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa. It costs from £1,250, from Geneva, including transfers, professional mountain guide, accommodation (hotels and mountain huts), breakfasts and most dinners, but excluding flights. Fly to Geneva with BA (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com).

Kilimanjaro is the highest freestanding mountain in the world, and the Marangu Route goes up via rainforest and grassy plains, with spectacular views, huge permanent glaciers and stunning ice formations as a reward for those who make it to the summit. Imaginative Traveller (01473 667 337, www.imaginative-traveller.com) has a nine-day trip that allows time for acclimatisation (altitude sickness can be a killer on Kili) before the climb, but it points out that “participants need to be in good physical condition, as the six-day trek will test mental and physical limits”.

Accommodation is in communal huts, and porters and guides take some of the strain. The cost is about £1,430, and includes eight nights’ accommodation (three hotels, the remainder mountain huts), most meals and flights from Heathrow.

If you can’t spare the time for Kili or the Alps, Mountain Innovations (0845 095 6174, www.scotmountain.co.uk) has weekend Munro Hike + Bike ascents, rated grade four (challenging routes taking seven or eight hours per day, needing a good level of aerobic fitness). These involve a ride to the mountains, before hopping off to tackle Ben Alder and Beinn Bheoil, both of which have dramatic views over Scottish lochs, then, the following day, a bike-then-hike to Meall Chuaich, with vistas over Loch Ericht and the High Cairngorms. It costs £195pp, including pickup from Inverness airport or Aviemore station, full-board, bike hire and guiding.

Other hard-core options are available from Exodus (0870 950 0039, www.exodus.co.uk), Explore Worldwide (0870 333 4001, www.exploreworldwide.com), Himalayan Kingdoms (which actually climbs worldwide — 01453 844400, www.himalayankingdoms.com), High Places (0845 257 7500, www.highplaces.co.uk), KE Adventure Travel (01768 773966, www.keadventure.com) and Sherpa (020 8577 2717, www.sherpaexpeditions.com). All will test your head for heights.

Thanks to Matt Roberts (020 7491 9989, www.personaltrainer.uk.com)

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