5 Stretches to Help Your Voice Recover

Singers if you feel like your entire front from throat to hips are tired and tight from a big day of singing, or a particularly physically demanding performance then this recovery flow is for you.

I will be demonstrating five stretches chosen to help open up your front body, and because I love spicing up regular stretches, I will be demonstrating my modifications.

The intensity with which you do your stretches is entirely up to your personal preference, though I would suggest keeping them light to moderate, there really isn’t ever a need to crank your stretch hard. In fact, your brain may consider an aggressive stretch a threat and then decide to tighten up to protect you, which is counterproductive when we are trying to relax. You can learn more about Your Brain and Movement in this video.

As always exercises you see on the internet may not be suitable for you. Always trust your body’s wisdom, if something doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. If you are unsure, check with your own physiotherapist.

And make sure you watch until the end for a bonus tip.

The first stretch we will do to open up the front body is a quad stretch. Now the point of stretching is to take the two ends of the muscle as far apart as you can, the most common mistake I see people make when they stretch their quads is that they have the knee in front of the standing thigh. Your quads comes from your pelvis and goes below the knee cap, this is definitely not the longest way between these two points.

To make sure we get the longest way, we want to start with our thighs parallel. Now this may mean that you can’t hold onto your foot but that’s easily fixed by using a towel, just hook the towel around your ankle et voilà, you have the right position. I don’t need that so I’m going to show you without it.

So thighs are parallel, now when you bend your knee as much as you can bend your knee, you may end up with a pelvic tilting forward, that is also not the longest way between the two points, so this is when you unbend the knee a little bit so you can correct that pelvic tilt and tuck it under. In this position we are getting a good quality quads stretch.

You can just hang out here, take a few relaxation breaths, or we can spice it up. So to spice it up I’m going to add a neck side flexion away, and I hang out here for a few breaths, as I feel my quads relax I can bend my knee further, taking care that if my pelvis tip forward that I correct that, after a few breaths I will turn my head to look at the floor, one breath here, then look up to the ceiling for another breath, then come back to side flexion.

Now to spice it up even more I’m going to bend the standing leg and slide the stretching leg behind it and up, bend and slide, now if it doesn’t want to go too far back just try to bring them together or go back slightly on the diagonal, just explore, have a play to see where you can find some movement. Now one more and everything comes back up.

Now let’s take a moment and appreciate how different the sides feel, it’s a bit weird so let’s balance out and I’m going to show you from behind for the other side.

Bending the knee up making sure my thighs are parallel, pelvis tucked under and then to spice it up I’m going to tip my head away, a couple of breaths here, as my quad relax I can bend my knee some more and correcting any pelvic tilt that may have happened.

After a few breaths I will turn to look at the floor, a breath here, then look up to the ceiling, a breath here, back to side flexion and then bending the standing leg and sliding the stretching leg behind, bend and slide, bend and slide and everything come back up and that is how I spice up a regular quad stretch.

The second stretch we will do to help open up the front body is a thoracic rotation stretch. Now why are we doing rotation when we’re trying to open up into extension?

Because rotation is the secret sauce to good mobility, it really helps you both in flexion and extension.

This is a three-part stretch, we will have our hips slightly wider than your hips, with the knees slightly bend, pelvis is in neutral, that means that the front of your what people like to call hip bones and your pubic bones is in the same plane, so from the side they are in the same plane, if I am in an anterior tilt then this is now tilting hipbone forward pubic bone backwards, or if I’m tucked under then I’m angled this way, we want straight.

So hip width, slight bending the knees, neutral pelvis. We will put our hands on our sternum, this is to guide our movement, keeping our pelvis still we will turn our sternum to one side, back to centre, turn the other side, back to centre, your nose stays in line with your sternum as you turn, rotate and centre, one more, rotate centre, rotate centre.

The second part we will hold onto the bottom of our rib cage and then we will slide our arms forward so that they are at the level of the bottom ribs, from here one would reach forward the other one reach back, come back to centre and then the opposite way, all the time we are trying to keep our pelvis still, we are using the arms to create the rotation in those lower thoracic segments, so really try to reach the fingers forwards and pull the elbow back, and reach and pull back.

The third part is for the pelvis so we will put our hands on our sternum so that we can monitor whether this is moving or not, and the movement comes from your pelvis, watch my lemons, see how they turn?

You can also think about your belly button turning away from your sternum, there will be a tendency to arch, that’s okay, once you notice that correct it and keep going. Rotate centre, rotate centre, and that’s my three-part thoracic rotation stretch.

The third stretch we will do to open up our front body is a hip flexor stretch, we do that in a lunge position. I’m using blocks for balance, you can use blocks or be close to your sofa or your bed, something solid and dependable.

To do a hip flexor stretch we want to make sure that your pelvis is tucked under, we don’t want to dump all that stretch into our lower back, that’s not very nice to your lower back and it also doesn’t give you a good quality stretch.

So with the pelvis tucked under I’m going to shift as far forward as I can and then I will shift back out. The rhythm is like a wave rolling up to the beach as high as it can go and then it will go back out to sea.

To spice it up we are going to reach forward with our arm and up with the arm, the points of my ribs and my sternum as I reach up is going to curl up, so if I have lights on these spots they going to shine forward and then shine further up into the wall, and if you’re very bendy they may well point up towards the ceiling and then they shine back down, and it looks like this.

Tucking under, reach shift forward and back out, wave rolling up the beach, rolling back out to sea, rolling out to sea, up the beach (laughter) , rolling back out to sea, then we’re going to reach sideways and over and coming back, shift reach sideways and over and back, and shift reach sideways and over and back.

Now this one is spicy so if that is too spicy for now what you can do is just go some distance forward and then do the reaching with the arm, that will also be beneficial.

Now let’s come back to a kneeling position and appreciate how the different sides feel and then we will balance out, and I will show you from the side this time.

So I will be doing this leg now, pelvis tucking under, shift forward reach up, shift back, shifting forward reaching up, reaching back, one more, rolling up the beach, roll back out to sea, and then I’m going to reach around and curl, around and back, around and curl, around and back, and around and back. And that is how I spice up a regular hip flexor stretch.

The fourth stretch we will do to help open up our front body is a Sphinx. 

This and the next stretch are both back extension stretches, I find it helpful when I do extension to visualise my spine getting longer, getting taller, maximising the spaces between each vertebra, I find that visualising the length really helps me both to bend and to extend.

To do Sphinx, we want to be on our belly and on our forearm. From this position we want to make sure our elbows are under your shoulders, and then the first thing we will do is some general mobility by letting our shoulder blades come together and then coming apart, shoulder blades together, shoulder blades apart, so it is retracting and protracting, retract protract, retract protract.

The next part we start by looking at our mat, as we lengthen up we are dragging our forearms on the mat, almost like we’re pulling ourself forward without moving, as we drag we slide our sternum up to point it to the wall in front of you, and then coming back down.

If I have a light on my sternum that light will be shining on the floor and then up towards the wall in front. So facing the floor, drag and slide, coming back, drag and slide.

We want to make sure that we are using our upper back and not our neck, this is not a neck stretch. Drag and slide.

To spice it up even further we are going to have one arm more forward than the other so our thoracic spine has a little bit of rotation in it already before we drag and slide, drag and slide, drag and slide, then we will swap sides, drag and slide, drag and slide, and drag and slide.

Again rotation really is the secret sauce to good mobility and that’s why I like to sprinkle them in anytime I can and that is how I spice up a Sphinx.

The fifth stretch we will do to help open up our front body is a Cobra and of course we are going to spice it up, we are going to turn the Cobra into a strengthening and mobility super drill.

Having a nice strong back is really important to help us manage the effect of gravity which is constantly pulling us down, and for us singers, a strong back is what help us to attain and maintain the upright singing alignment so we have an extra reason to make sure our back is nice and strong.

Let me tell you how we are going to spice up the Cobra before I demonstrate.

Essentially we want our back to actively do as much of the work as possible. On the way up we want to use our back to peel us off the floor into a hover then use our arms to come up the rest of the way.

How much you can extend your back, whether your arms become straight or not is dependent on how your back feels on any given day. The key here is that it might feel stiff, it might feel tight, but it should never be painful and never be pinchy.

Remember what I said before about lengthening the spine going for height before bending and extending? That is definitely something to visualise here.

And then on the way down we want to let our back take over as soon as possible, so once we feel our back ready we will roll onto our fingertips, and then hover and lower ourself back down and it looks like this.

So from the belly, actively pull yourself up then use your arms to go the rest of the way, hang out for a breath then rolling back down, let my back take over then place myself back down, pull myself up into a hover, use my arms for the rest of the way, a breath here, thinking about long spine rolling back down and then going the rest of the way.

One more, long spine, hover, use my arms to go the rest of the way, one breath, and then rolling back down and placing myself back down.

Now after doing some back extension I like to come onto all fours and do some pelvic tilt, gently tucking under, gently arching, tucking under, arching, and I gently shift my way back, and then taking as long as my back wants to come back into a Child Pose, and then I will chill out here for as long as my back wants.

Now while you do that there’s actually an extra stretch that I would do now to fully finish opening up my front body and let me tell you about that now while you chill out in Child Pose. And that is how I spice up my Cobra.

The extra stretch that I would do to finish fully opening up my front body is a larynx stretch. I have already made a detail video showing you how to safely stretch your larynx and I will link that in the description as well, but don’t go there yet I’m about to drop that bonus tip I mentioned and you won’t want to miss it.

Here’s the bonus tip for you, to help combat vocal fatigue, overuse and to promote vocal longevity, I encourage all singers to build sufficient Vocal Capacity so you can easily handle the demand of all your current vocal tasks.

Ideally you want to spend no more than 80% of your entire Vocal Capacity at any given time, so you always have some juice left in the tank for the unexpected.

How to build Vocal Capacity? Let me introduce you to my Magic Trio, we have vocal technique, a strong and fit body, and smart Vocal Load Management.

See the part where they all intersect? That is the sweet spot and you want to expand that sweet spot evenly to increase your overall Vocal Capacity.

This means you want to continue to hone your vocal technique with your singing teacher, you want to practice smart Vocal Load Management strategies which I have a program coming for you soon, and you want to keep building a strong, limber and fit body which is what I help singers do.

Now the foundation to having a strong, fit and limber body is having a strong core. Your core is also where your Breath Support comes from so mastering how to use these muscles is especially important for us singers. Sadly there is a lot of bullshit about this online and I see a lot of singers being taught ways that can actually ruin your pelvic floor for Breath Support.

I am not okay with this which is why I have created a FREE mini course “Introduction to Breath Support” where I teach you how to correctly connect with your core and pelvic floor, and how to Integrate your Body-Breath-Voice for singing, you can grab the free training using the link in the description.

I’m Selina, a physio and a singer, I help singers build strong bodies to enhance their vocal efficiency and performance, if that is your vibe please subscribe.

Now is the time to go check out that safe larynx stretch video to finish opening up your front body. After that, check out this playlist where I have more videos for singers.

Thank you very much for joining me today, ’til next time, Be Free In Your Movement.™ Combat the effect of gravity grativy gravity Gra blah blah…