h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm playing a lot of football (soccer) these days and I find that my lower back is constantly tired [I play in goal, btw] - how would I go about increasing the strength of those muscles?

Play in a better team so you don't have to pick the ball out of the net so much

Seriously though, perhaps doing sit ups daily. Also make sure that your seating is ergonomic (IF the office chair isn't then order one from site facilities and remember and type the words back pain to see how fast they move)

make sure your bedding gives you plenty of support as well.

Belly dancing?

Leg raises. Or:

Lie on your front and hold your legs and arms just off the floor. Count to 10 (or whatever).

To avoid soreness, warm up the lower back area (touch your toes, swivel your hips) before playing.

Sprout

That thing with lying on the floor and raising your legs and arms works really well.

I just don't see how sit-ups help the back.

Methos

Anything that strengthens the stomach strenghtens the back

It does? It didn't feel that way when I did sit-ups but well...

Methos

They take a while, that may be why you did not notice.
The back muscles wrap around to the stomach.
Power walking with erect posture is helpful although not the primary.
Trunk *stabalizing* exercises they are sometimes called when doing them for back therapy.

Have you ever used the gigantic bouncy ball? It does not look like it would do much, but it is amazing for strengthing the torso and balance. Many athletes have taken it up. Infact you can even do cardio conditioning. Very versatile.

Hey !
Another good idea is to find yourself a doorframe and just pretend you wanna walk through that door. But instead walking through you stay in the middle of the door, take your arms up to your side and press against the left and right sight of the doorframe
hold it for somewhat 10 seconds. then relax again.
Also make sure you warm up probably, and everytime you train your stomach muscles you have to train you back muscles and vice versa.
And don't forget stretching after training, that is really important as otherwise your muscles become shorter and you become less flexible.