Latissimus Dorsi

  Work your biggest back muscle

Building a strong back isn’t usually the reason women get into strength training, but it might be one of the reasons you decide to stay with it.

Along with gaining muscles to help you complete everyday tasks you’ll be slimming your waist without sit-ups and keeping your body young and healthy for years to come.

What are the Latissimus dorsi muscles and where are they located?

The lats are the largest muscles of the back. The muscles originate in each upper arm and fan out across the lower and middle back, down to the upper part of the pelvis.

What do they do?

Lats are put to work bending the spine back to front and side to side. They pull the arms down towards the sides of the body and pull the body towards fixed arms (as in a chin-up). Lats stabilize the torso and are engaged during many shoulder movements.

Why you should strengthen your lats

Strong lats create a V shape, making your back appear to be wider at the top and taper down to your waist. Don’t let that scare you off though - when your back and shoulders are wider it draws focus to your waist, which appears slimmer.

In the ’80s women wore shoulders pads for a similar effect. Although most of them now realize how silly they looked with fake squared shoulders, creating a more natural balance is still desirable.

In terms of function, strong lats are important in the makings of a strong back, which can help prevent injury during all the bending, twisting and lifting activities you do during the day.


Exercises that target the lats

• Reverse-grip chin-up - In this move hold the chin-up bar with palms facing you and hands about shoulder width apart. Pull your body up until your neck reaches the bar and lower. Without touching the floor, repeat.
• Bent-over barbell rows - When you stand on slightly bent legs, hinge forward at the waist and extend a weighted bar in front of you (overhand grip), it takes strong lats to pull the bar in to touch you upper abs.
• Wide grip pull-down - The lat machine makes it hard to perform pull-downs incorrectly. Use a bar with a wide grip (hands should be more than shoulder width apart) and sit on the seat with knees underneath the front pad. Pull the bar to the top of your chest. Never pull it behind your head.
• Seated rows - This machine also makes working the lats simple. Grab the handles and sit with back straight and legs bent, feet resting on the metal block. Pull the handles in to your stomach and extend until you feel a slight stretch.