I like to think of my back as having several distinct sections and will work first according to what is lagging most. For me, it's my midback so I would this first, but that will vary with each person.

Warmup - 5-10 minutes on any cardio of your choice (I like running on the treadmill or doing stairstepper)

MIDBACK
Behind the neck chins
- 3 sets of 12 reps (or as many as you can get right now)
Cable Rows - 4 sets of 12 reps

LATS
Front Pulldowns or Chins
- 4 sets of 10-12 reps
supersetted with
Stiff-arm Pulldowns - 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Barbell or DB Pullovers (or Pullover machine)
3 sets of 12 reps

UPPER TRAPS
Barbell or DB shrugs (if needed)
- 3 sets of 10

Exercise Notes:

Behind the Neck Chins - Use a shoulder width grip or a little wider. Include little or no pause at the bottom of the exercise.

Cable Rows - Instead of using the "V" attachment, use two regular handle grips (from a cable machine) and focus on squeezing the scapulae at the end of the pull backwards. In the forward stretch, don't let your arms go completely straight (in other words, don't let the elbows lock), which will keep the tension on the midback

Front Pulldowns - Use a neutral (palms facing each other) grip and don't let your arms lock out at the top of the movement. Focus on the lats doing the work

Stiff-Arm Pulldowns - Done standing, with a regular pulldown bar. Use a shoulder width or slightly narrower grip. I like to lean a forward into this exercise and focus on making the lats and scapulae do the work. The arms are like levers. You will probably use a lighter weight (I currently use between 45 and 65lbs)

Barbell or DB Pullovers - Though this is thought of a chest exercise, I feel it more in my lats, so I've included it here.

Shrugs - Lean forward when doing these and pause for a 2-3 seconds at the top and use a quick twitch at the bottom of the shrug.

Rest Intervals:

I generally don't time my rest intervals exactly, but probably take between 45 - 60 seconds. If I'm working with someone else, we go right after each other is finished, so this is a guess.

Bruce

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