Around The Worlds

An intermediate compound strength exercise that works the chest, using dumbbells.

Around The Worlds — Starting position Starting position
Around The Worlds — End position End position
Difficulty Intermediate
Type Strength
Equipment Dumbbells
Primary Muscle Chest
AI Rep Counting Log manually

How to Do Around The Worlds

  1. Lay down on a flat bench holding a dumbbell in each hand with the palms of the hands facing towards the ceiling. Tip: Your arms should be parallel to the floor and next to your thighs. To avoid injury, make sure that you keep your elbows slightly bent. This will be your starting position.
  2. Now move the dumbbells by creating a semi-circle as you displace them from the initial position to over the head. All of the movement should happen with the arms parallel to the floor at all times. Breathe in as you perform this portion of the movement.
  3. Reverse the movement to return the weight to the starting position as you exhale.

Muscles Worked

Front
Back

Primary

Where Around The Worlds does most of its work.

Secondary

Assisting and stabilising muscles.

Alternatives to Around The Worlds

10 movements that train the same primary muscle, closest substitutes first — same kind of training, then variations of the movement itself, then a similar difficulty.

  1. 1 Barbell Guillotine Bench Press

    Barbell Guillotine Bench Press

    An intermediate compound strength exercise that works the chest, using a barbell.

    intermediate Barbell
  2. 2 Bench Press

    Bench Press

    The bench press is the most popular upper body exercise for building chest strength and muscle mass. It's a compound movement that also develops the triceps and anterior deltoids.

    intermediate Barbell
  3. 3 Bodyweight Flyes

    Bodyweight Flyes

    An intermediate isolation strength exercise that works the chest, using an E-Z curl bar.

    intermediate E-Z Curl Bar
  4. 4 Clock Push-Up

    Clock Push-Up

    An intermediate compound strength exercise that works the chest, needing no equipment.

    intermediate No Equipment
  5. 5 Dips - Chest Version

    Dips - Chest Version

    An intermediate compound strength exercise that works the chest.

    intermediate Not specified
  6. 6 Incline Cable Flye

    Incline Cable Flye

    An intermediate isolation strength exercise that works the chest, using a cable machine.

    intermediate Cable Machine
  7. 7 Leg-Over Floor Press

    Leg-Over Floor Press

    An intermediate compound strength exercise that works the chest, using a kettlebell.

    intermediate Kettlebell
  8. 8 Neck Press

    Neck Press

    An intermediate compound strength exercise that works the chest, using a barbell.

    intermediate Barbell
  9. 9 Push-Ups With Feet On An Exercise Ball

    Push-Ups With Feet On An Exercise Ball

    An intermediate compound strength exercise that works the chest, using an exercise ball.

    intermediate Exercise Ball
  10. 10 Single-Arm Push-Up

    Single-Arm Push-Up

    An intermediate compound strength exercise that works the chest, needing no equipment.

    intermediate No Equipment

Frequently Asked Questions

What muscles do around the worlds work?

Around The Worlds primarily works the chest. The shoulders assist as secondary muscles.

What equipment do I need for around the worlds?

Around The Worlds uses dumbbells.

Around The Worlds: is it suitable for beginners?

Around The Worlds is rated intermediate. Movements that assume you already own the basic pattern and are ready to load it.

What can I do instead of around the worlds?

Barbell Guillotine Bench Press, Bench Press, Bodyweight Flyes train the same primary muscles and are listed with 7 more alternatives above.

Can Fitnit count my around the worlds reps automatically?

Not automatically yet. Fitnit's AI rep counting covers push-ups, squats, dumbbell curls, crunches and pull-ups today; around the worlds can be logged manually in the app, and tracked movements are added over time.

Photographs and step-by-step instructions from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. Muscle mapping and alternatives by Fitnit.

Track Your Around The Worlds with AI

Fitnit automatically tracks push-ups, crunches, squats, pull-ups, and curls with advanced body tracking technology — and you can manually input any other workout too. Start free — Pro is $8.99/month.