Q: Can you tell me what exercises I can do to work my whole back,including one that isolates the lower back. Free weights only.

A: Absolutely! The best lower back exercise and one of the best exercises overall is the barbell deadlift. Put the bar loaded with weights on the floor, with your feet directly under the bar squat down so your knees are bent at about 90 degrees and your back STRAIGHT, grasp bar with a shoulder width or slightly wider overhand grip or mixed grip (one hand over and one hand under -- this helps hang on to the bar better). Maintaining straight back extend your hips and knees simultaneously until you're standing upright. Reverse the sequence to return to the starting position. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to maintain good form (straight back, shoulders pulled back slightly, knees bent at the bottom of the motion, feet directly under the bar so it almost scrapes your shins on the way up) throughout the deadlift motion. Do NOT load up the bar with so much weight that you cannot maintain good form. DO start with very light weights until you are completely comfortable with the exercise. Bad form on deadlifts can cause lower back injury, but when done properly these are incredibly effective whole body exercises that especially hit the lower back. Few people do deadlifts anymore (or squats for that matter) but don't let that scare you off. As long as you have have no pre-existing medical condition and you do them properly, deadlifts must have a place in your training program. As a bonus, doing deadlifts without straps to help you hold the weight will provide great workouts for your forearms.

For the mid-upper back the most common exercises are various pullups, pulldowns, and rows. Pullups are one of the most basic bodyweight exercises (you're pulling your own bodyweight up) and you can do it with a variety of grips. As always, I recommend variety whenever possible. Pulldowns are a machine variation on pullups and are nice because you can control the weight you use. Do NOT do pulldowns behind your head like some people do -- it puts your shoulders in vulnerable position and has no added benefits. Also don't swing your body back trying to pull the weight down -- only your arms should be moving during the exercise. Rows are done in bent over positions, either one-handed with a dumbbell (often kneeling on a bench) or standing two-handed with a barbell. Make sure to keep your back straight while doing rows. Again, a variety of hand grips can be used. There are also row machines that you can throw in for still more variety.

At the base of the neck and stretching out to shoulders are your traps. Sometimes these are considered part of the shoulder complex, but I'll cover them here. They get hit with great effectiveness during deadlifts, but you can hit them more directly too, using shrugs. Shrugs can be performed with dumbbells and with barbells. You simply stand up straight holding two dumbbells or a barbell and shrug your shoulders up lifting the weight slightly, hold it there for a moment, then lower the shoulders back down. The shrugging motion should be limited to the upper body, not the whole body swinging up.

These are the essential back exercises. Almost all good training programs will include deadlift and at least one of many variations of pullup/down or row. Sometimes programs will omit deadlifts, but then they better include squats and/or straight-legged deadlifts (a variation where you don't bend the knee, but only at the hip) and/or 'good mornings' -- all these exercises work many of the same muscles as the deadlift. I consider shrugs to be more optional since the deadlift hits trap muscles quite effectively on its own.