Summer may have come to an end, but Shanghai’s swimming pools are filling up this fall with the latest aquatic fitness trends. Andrew Chin hops into the water for an aqua workout.

On Saturday mornings, the Chevalier Place pool on Anfu Road offers a strange sight. Half of the pool is blocked off, filled with submerged custom-made aquabikes and a row of sunken trampolines.

It’s time for an aquabike workout.

Originating as a rehabilitation regimen for injured athletes, aquabiking has evolved into a body-shaping workout popular across Europe and Latin America. In a 45-minute lesson, students pedal on bikes while an instructor leads them through various stretches targeting specific body parts. It’s a surprisingly intense workout with a resistance band component for upper body workouts and a section devoted to working out the core.

Since taking over operations last year, Janete Brungger and Helen Zhang have worked to steadily grow Shanghai’s only aquabiking class with eight to 10 classes offered weekly. Brungger notes that in her native Brazil, there are clubhouse pools with dedicated aquabiking sections, but the workout has yet to gain a foothold in China.

The bikes have been custom-made and the club’s instructors have undergone a three-month training led by experienced instructors from Belgium and France. Originally a student, 53-year-old Brungger has been encouraged by the growing number of club members.

“More students are coming two to three times a week and you can really see the changes in the body after a couple of months,” she says. “You can improve many things in your body but also your well-being. You feel more relaxed the more you do it. It’s a different feeling from a gym where you may feel more tired than relaxed afterward.”

Students like Theary, who declines to give her surname, have turned to aquabiking after feeling back spasms and other physical discomfort from various activities, including yoga. The French native praises what two years of classes have done in toning her arms and she lauds the social aspects of aquabiking.

“What I enjoy is the music and being in a group,” she says. “It pushes you to go harder more than if you were just in a pool alone swimming laps like a fish going back and forth.”

Aqua Zumba

These social and rhythm elements can also be found in Aqua Zumba. Started five years ago by former synchronized swimmer Maria Browning, the program incorporates traditional methods of water workouts with the Zumba formula of rhythm.

For two years, Zumba instructor Connie Colson has been leading Aqua Zumba classes in pools across Gubei and Hongqiao areas. While standing above the pool, she leads participants through a 45-minute workout of choreographed dance steps with moves designed to stretch different parts of the body, set to uptempo Latin beats.

“The water gives it a sense of illusion that it looks easy,” Colson says. “Unlike land classes, the impact is very low but the water resistance is so high that you literally have to work to be able to move. It’s a fantastic program for people that have issues with their weight, pregnant mothers, active older adults, athletes recovering from injuries and post-surgery patients.”

Malaysian-born Colson offers three Aqua Zumba classes a week and was certified in New Zealand. While she says men still see the program as more of a dance-based workout than one devoted to strength and conditioning, her classes have built up a steady following among expat women.

“It’s really great because it’s non-weight bearing,” says student Corinna Rothenburger. The 48-year-old New Zealander has been an Aqua Zumba student for 13 years and appreciates the low impact of the workouts.

“You also get to have fun in the water and nobody can see how ridiculous you are. The other students can’t tell if you’re doing the wrong move.”

While the classes attract between six and 20 participants, no replacement has been found for Colson who will move to Hong Kong at the end of November. Her students joke about renting a shared house on the island but Colson laments, “There are a lot of indoor and outdoor pools in Shanghai to utilize but unfortunately we don’t have enough instructors.”

Underwater hockey

Experienced players Alice Chong from Singapore and Jaime Garcia from Colombia are responsible for bringing underwater hockey to Shanghai. Also known as “octopush,” this quickly growing sport started in the UK in 1954 as a winter fitness activity for divers. It’s a fast-paced game with players equipped with a snorkel, fins, and a “pusher” or small stick tied to the player’s hand.

Since starting two summers ago with two players, the Shanghai Azures now have 15 to 20 regular participants for their pick-up games. Two teams of four players compete to score the puck into small nets. The game is three-dimensional with players surfacing below and diving into the action at every moment.

“It’s quite tiring in the end,” says Phillip Peiwoarcyzk. The 26-year-old architect has been playing underwater hockey for the past two weeks and views it as a more active alternative to swimming. “If you’re swimming laps, there’s no reason to go faster or longer. But if you see the puck, it gives you more energy to really go for it. You get out much more tired than you would if you just came to swim.”

Particularly popular among divers and snorkelers, underwater hockey’s fast pace can be intimidating to newcomers. Each pick-up session, however, starts with swimming warm-ups and basic drills training. The swims are a challenge with props used to emphasize certain body movements. The pick-up games are offered three times a week and are made up of experienced players and curious newbies.

“You don’t have to be a strong swimmer,” says player Sumi Ross. “We have players that weren’t strong swimmers but have gotten better and better as they played.”

The sport enjoys strong fan bases in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. Nineteen countries will compete at the upcoming Underwater Hockey World Championship in Hungary.

Underwater hockey clubs can be found in Dalian in Liaoning Province and Chengdu in Sichuan Province. Last year the Shanghai Azures bested Chengdu. The club is now large enough to field a team at the Asian Championships in Manila. Interested players are welcome and Garcia has set a modest goal.

“We are still much newer than the other teams that are going but we are going to score at least one goal,” he declares.

• Aquabiking classes are offered eight to 10 times a week. A free trial class is included. For more information, e-mail shui_in@yahoo.com or call 186-2156-3742.

• Aqua Zumba classes are offered on Tuesdays (10:15am) in Minhang District and on Wednesdays (8:30am) and Sundays (9am) in Hongqiao area. Drop-in fees range from 120 to 150 yuan. For more information, visit conniecolson.zumba.com.

• Shanghai Azures Underwater Hockey Club plays on Tuesdays and Thursdays (7pm) and Sundays (5pm) at 800 Anyuan Rd. For more information, visit shanghai-azures.tumblr.com.

(Andrew Chin is a Shanghai-based freelancer.)