The Latissimus Dorsi: Your Pull Muscle
The broad back muscle that powers pull-ups, pulldowns, and rows.
Before this: The Upper Back: An Overview
You will be able to
- Describe where the latissimus dorsi attaches and what it does.
- Match the lats to vertical and horizontal pulling exercises.
- Explain why pulling exercises are compound.
The 'lats'
The latissimus dorsi is the broad, flat muscle that gives the back its V-shape. It reaches from the lower spine, pelvis, and lower ribs all the way to the upper arm bone (humerus). Because it crosses the shoulder, it extends, adducts, and internally rotates the arm — in plain terms, it pulls your arm down and back toward your body.
Which exercises use it
- Vertical pull (pull-up, lat pulldown) — pulling the arms down from overhead.
- Horizontal pull (rows) — pulling the arms back toward the torso.
Not back-only
Like pushing, pulling is a team effort: the lats work with the biceps, rear deltoids, and the rhomboids/mid-traps that retract the shoulder blades. No single-muscle claims here either.
Sources for this lesson
“The latissimus dorsi extends, adducts, and medially rotates the humerus.”
Anatomy and Physiology 2e — OpenStax, Rice University · Ch. 11.5 Muscles of the Pectoral Girdle and Upper Limbs
Peer-reviewed textbook · License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Last checked 2026-07-19
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