If you wanna stop wrecking your voice every time you sing, first thing’s first—deal with the muscles around your instrument (yeah, your throat and everything attached to it) and then get that support sorted out. Seriously, your voice is kinda like a weird, high-maintenance pet. If you ignore it, it gets all tense and sad, and then suddenly you’ve lost your high notes and you sound like you’ve got a frog stuck in your throat. But hey, doesn’t have to go down that way.

You can keep your voice healthy, sing without feeling like your neck’s in a headlock, and even sound better for, like, years. The biggest complaint I hear from singers? They burn out fast. Either from gigging too much or just having zero core support. So, let’s fix that mess.

Here’s my top five tricks to kick vocal strain to the curb and sound way better, for way longer:

1. Stretch your voice out. (Seriously, don’t skip this.)
2. Give your voice a massage. Yes, really. 
3. Chill out those laryngeal muscles.
4. Get your breath support together.
5. Support from your torso—your core isn’t just for abs, y’know?

Yeah, you’ve probably heard this stuff before, but are you actually doing it? Probably not. So, let’s dive in.

Vocal stretches to get rid of tension:

Doing the right vocal stretches? Instantly makes you sound better. Your tone, your range, your resonance—everything gets a boost when the muscles aren’t clamping down on your sound. Trust me, nine times outta ten, when a singer’s struggling in a lesson, it’s NOT some mystical problem. It’s just their muscles choking the voice out.

So, you gotta figure out which muscles are overcompensating and which ones are just phoning it in. Here’s a wild example: your jaw. People get obsessed with using their jaw to control pitch, but that’s not its job. Your brain’s just tricking you. The jaw’s like, “Fine, I’ll help!” and suddenly it’s tightening up, ruining everything.

When you train your voice, you wanna strip back all those extra muscles that are sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong. That way your voice can actually do its thing.

Watch yourself in the mirror next time you sing. Any of this look familiar?

• Tongue darting around or tensing up in the back? Classic.
• Chin jutting out when you reach for high notes? Yikes.
• Neck looking like you’re flexing for a bodybuilding comp?
• Jaw clamped or popping?
• Throat feeling tight? 
• Stomach sucking in like you’re trying to squeeze into last year’s jeans?

If you answered yes to any of that, congrats, you’re overusing muscles that just wanna make life harder for you. Time to chill them out.

Vocal massage:

After a show? Yeah, your voice is tired. Muscles, especially around your larynx, get tight, and if you never let them loosen up, you’re asking for trouble—cracks, lost notes, the whole sad story.

Here’s a game-changer: vocal massage. This is honestly one of the best things I’ve found for getting my voice back after a killer set (or too much karaoke). Start with a larynx pull-down massage.

Try this:

• Yawn, but with your finger across the top of your throat. Don’t just open your jaw, focus on the back of your throat.
• Feel your throat drop? Good.
• Now put your thumb and finger at the top of your throat, yawn again.
• Did your throat move down? Perfect.
• Do it again, but this time, as you breathe out, gently pull those muscles down. Super gentle, don’t go Hulk on yourself.

This opens up space in your throat, relaxes the larynx, and just makes singing feel way less like an Olympic sport.

So yeah, you gotta stretch, massage, and pay attention to what your body’s doing. Your voice will thank you, and you won’t sound like you gargled gravel after a long gig.

Chill Out Your Throat Muscles:

You’ve probably heard about Celine Dion’s wild ride with “Stiff Person Syndrome” lately—her muscles basically freeze up and spaz out, making singing a whole new challenge. She’s been super open about what she’s trying to keep her throat and larynx loose while singing. That’s key, honestly. A lot of pop singers—especially the ones who’ve never had a lesson in their life—end up singing straight from their throats. Sure, it might sound fine at first, but give it some time and you’re just asking for trouble. Vocal cords get tight, sound gets pinched, and, next thing you know, you’re croaking instead of belting.

So, look, if you want your voice to last, chill on the throat tension. Breathe right and get some actual training. Don’t be that person who shreds their voice for a TikTok cover.

Here’s what you can actually try:

• Breathe way deeper, like, feel it in your ribs. You want your lungs full, not just your chest puffed out.
• Don’t blast air out like you’re blowing up a pool float. Keep the air in there, let it support you.
• Resist the urge to squeeze your throat. Use your pecs, lift your chest, get the power from there.
• Stop lifting your chin for high notes. That’s a rookie move. Keep it level and holy crap, those notes come out so much easier.

Get Your Breath Game On Point.

Real support starts with breathing—diaphragm drop, baby. You want those deep breaths, down in the lower parts of your lungs (they’re kinda triangle-shaped, who knew?). The trick is to open up those intercostals—the muscles hugging your ribs—so your ribs can actually swing outward as you inhale. That gives your diaphragm space to drop.

Singing isn’t just blowing air and hoping for the best. It’s a weird dance of air and muscle. If you’re getting tense in your neck, jaw, or tongue, you’re probably choking your own sound. That means your tone, range, everything, just gets smaller and more strained.

But when you really nail that breath support? Singing feels way easier, like suddenly you’re not fighting your body anymore.

Try this:

• Put your hands on the bottom of your ribcage.
• Breathe out and squeeze your ribs in.
• Now, slowly try breathing in against that resistance.
• Feel your ribs expand? That’s the magic—now you’re actually using your diaphragm instead of just chest-breathing like a panicked squirrel.

Support from the Torso

Let’s be real, so many singers run out of steam because they’re not using their bodies right. You can have a killer voice but if you’re not anchoring it with the right moves and habits, you’re gonna burn out or end up sounding like you’ve got a frog stuck in your throat.

Think about it—athletes train muscles for specific movements. Singers are basically athletes, just with itty bitty muscles in the throat and lungs. No coaching or proper alignment? You’re toast. Burnout, hoarseness, maybe even legit injury. Not fun.

Quick Alignment Check:

• Stand normal. Which side feels like it’s working harder?
• Check your feet—are you leaning on the outsides, insides, toes, or heels?
• What’s tight—legs, hips, shoulders, neck?
• Knees locked? Knock it off—soften them.
• Hips tight? Notice it.
• Squeeze your butt for a sec, then relax. (Yeah, really.)

Alignment Fix:

• Stand with weight in the center of both feet.
• Knees soft, not locked.
• Imagine you’re a scarecrow—head just chilling on top of your spine.
• Tuck your pelvis under a bit.
• Pull up tall from your waist, pretend you’re getting measured at the doctor.
• Shoulders heavy and relaxed, not hunched by your ears.
• Lengthen your neck—like a giraffe, but make it fashion.
• Lift the base of your skull up, keep your head level, not jutted out.
• Chin slightly down, not up. Makes your neck longer.

Next Up:
Grab your hair at the base of your neck and gently pull up—that’s the spot you want to lengthen. Keep your chin tipped just a little downward to keep your neck neutral. This opens up the back of your throat, helps your soft palate lift, and makes those high notes way more doable.

Practice this before and during singing. It might feel weird at first, but trust me, your voice will thank you. Plus, you’ll get more resonance and power. No more choking out those high notes.