Back wing muscles

Latissimus dorsi, said luh-TISS-ih-mus DOR-sye

Your back wing muscles are the widest muscles on your back, and they pull your arms down to climb.

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The widest muscle on your back

Latissimus dorsi is Latin for 'widest of the back.' Most people just say 'lats.'

It starts low on your back, near your hips. Then it fans up across your back, under your armpit, and ties onto your upper arm bone.

When someone's lats are working hard, they can look a little like wings. That's why we call them the back wing muscles.

Try it: reach both arms up high. Now pull your elbows down to your sides, like you're pulling down on a rope.

Feel the sides of your back, under your armpits, get firm? Those are your lats.

Your lats pull your arms down and back. That's the move for climbing a ladder, pulling yourself up on the monkey bars and rowing a boat.

Every time a swimmer pulls an arm through the water, the lats do much of the pulling.

Climbers use them to pull their bodies up the wall. You use them when you pull a wagon or tug a rope in tug-of-war.

Latissimus dorsi is Latin for 'widest of the back.'
Your lats are the widest muscles on your back, and some of the biggest muscles in your upper body.
Every pull on the monkey bars uses your lats.
Swimmers use their lats on every stroke to pull through the water.
Your lats reach all the way from your lower back to your upper arm.

Why do people call them 'lats'?

It's short for latissimus, which means 'widest.'

Which muscles help me climb?

Your lats pull you up, your biceps bend your arms, and your forearm muscles hold on tight. It's a team!

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