In daily life, the back muscles are used for pulling motions. To tone your upper back specifically, you need to zero in on the trapezius, rhomboid major and minor and latissimus dorsi. Utilize machines, free weights and your body to work these muscles.
Body Weight Exercises
Pull-ups work your back muscles with various hand positions. To place the most emphasis on your upper back, perform them with a wide grip. Reach up and grab the bar with your hands about six inches wider than shoulder-width apart, pull yourself up as high as possible and lower yourself down. When doing pull-ups, try to get your chest to the bar.
Another body weight exercise called a ball rollout works your upper back, abs and serratus muscles all at once. The serratus muscles look like fingers on the upper ribcage when they are highly developed. To do rollouts, kneel on the floor with the ball in front of you, hands placed shoulder-width apart on top and arms straight. Slowly roll the ball forward, drop your hips down toward the floor and stretch your forearms across the ball. Reverse the motion to get back to the starting point and repeat.
Shrugging
Barbell and dumbbell shrugs work the traps and rhomboids. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart while holding the bar in front of your thighs or holding dumbbells at your sides. Steadily shrug your shoulders straight up, squeeze your traps, lower and repeat. If you belong to a gym, look for a diamond-shaped trap bar that is specifically designed for shrugs.
Pulldowns
Pulldowns work your upper back muscles with three different variations---wide grip, reverse grip and close grip. They are performed on a lat-pulldown machine that has a high pulley, seat and padded support to place against your thighs. To do wide grip pulldowns, reach up and grab the bar with a wider than shoulder-width, overhand grip. Lean back slightly, pull the bar down to chest height, raise it back up and repeat. Perform close grip pulldowns with an angled close grip attachment and do reverse grip pulldowns with an underhand grip on the straight bar.
High Pulls
A high pull is an Olympic style lift that targets the trapezius. It is performed with a barbell held in front of your thighs with an overhand, slightly wider than shoulder-width grip. Steadily pull the bar up as high as possible and push your elbows in the air. Lower the bar back down and repeat. When doing these, keep the bar close to your body, move it in a quick motion and come up onto your tiptoes when you raise it.
Straight Arm Pulldown
Straight arm pulldowns are similar to seated pulldowns with two exceptions---they are done from a standing position and your arms are straight. Fasten a revolving straight bar to a high setting on a cable machine, face the weight stack and place your hands on the ends of the bar. After placing your feet in a slight staggered stance, push the bar straight down to your thighs, slowly lift it back up and repeat.
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