Muscle is built when you apply resistance to your body that is greater than you are used to. When it comes to the chest and back, you need to do pushing and pulling exercises to work your muscles adequately. Utilize the weight of your body and free weights to obtain this goal.
Presses
Three types of presses exist for working the chest. Incline presses target the upper chest, bench presses target the middle chest and decline presses target the lower chest. Each one is done from a different angle. Utilize an incline bench for incline presses, a flat bench for bench presses and decline bench for decline presses. The execution of these exercises is all the same. Lower and lift a barbell to and from your chest in a steady motion. When doing this, use a full range of motion, lower the weight slowly and do not bounce it off your chest. For variation, use dumbbells and lower them to your sides.
Push-ups
Push-ups enable you to work your chest with nothing but your body weight and a chair. Perform decline push-ups with your feet elevated to work your upper chest, do push-ups on the floor to work your middle chest and elevate your hands on a chair to do incline push-ups for your lower chest. When doing push-ups, keep your back straight, core tight and lower your chest until your upper arms are parallel to the floor. Push yourself all the way up until your arms are straight and repeat.
Dips
Dips require dipping bars that have foot rests and two parallel bars. These place a high emphasis on your chest muscles as well as your triceps. To do these, place your hands on the bars, lift your feet off the rests and bend your knees. After crossing your lower legs behind your body, lean forward slightly and lower yourself by bending your elbows. Once your upper arms are parallel to the floor, push yourself back up and repeat. To increase the resistance with dips, wear a special dipping belt that has an attachment to hold weight plates, or wear a weighted vest.
Pulldowns
Pulldowns are commonly called "lat" pulldowns because they work the latissimus dorsi muscles in the back. They are performed on a cable machine with a straight or close-grip bar. The execution is the same either way. After sitting on the seat and placing the padded thigh support against your thighs, reach up and grab the bar with an overhand grip. Lean back slightly, pull the bar to the front of your chest and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Slowly raise it back up and repeat. Every time you squeeze your shoulder blades together, you work your rhomboids in addition to your lats.
Pull-Ups
Pull-ups, which target your lats and rhomboids, require a pull-up bar. After grasping the bar with a slightly wider than shoulder-width overhand grip, pull yourself up as high as possible. The goal is to get your chest to the bar. Once you have done this, slowly lower yourself down and repeat. For variation, place your hands close together, wider apart or turn your palms around and do these with a reverse grip.
Good Mornings
Good mornings target the lower back muscles and they require a barbell. While holding the barbell across your shoulders with your hands in a wide grip, position your feet about shoulder-width apart. Keeping your legs and back straight, bend at the hips to lower your torso forward. Only go as far as you can and straighten back up. Being that this is an intense exercise, use the bar alone when first starting out.
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