A Five Minute Warm Up Routine Before Recording

A warm up routine before recording does two jobs at once. It loosens the muscles you use to speak, and it gives your nerves somewhere to go besides your face. Five focused minutes is enough to change how the first take feels.

Skip it and you tend to start with a tight jaw, a flat voice, and a stiff neck that reads on camera as tension.

Wake up the body first

Start with movement. A minute of marching in place, a few arm swings, or a short walk raises your heart rate and shakes off the stiffness of sitting still.

Roll your shoulders back and let them drop. Tension climbs into the shoulders and shows up as a raised, guarded look on video.

Shake out your hands and wrists. Releasing that grip helps your gestures stay loose instead of clenched.

Loosen the face and jaw

Your face holds more tension than you notice. Open your mouth wide a few times, and move your jaw side to side to release the hinge.

Stretch the tongue and lips with a few silly sounds. Saying me, may, mah slowly exaggerates the mouth shapes and wakes up your articulation.

End with a light smile and a raise of the eyebrows. It sounds small, but it reminds your face what expression feels like before you go live.

Five minutes of warm up turns the first take from a stiff rehearsal into something you would actually publish.

Warm the voice

Hum gently up and down your range for a minute. Humming brings blood to the vocal cords and steadies the breath that carries your words.

Follow with a few tongue twisters, said slowly and then at speed. They wake up the parts of your mouth that shape clear speech.

Read one paragraph of your notes out loud as a final check. It gets you into the rhythm of speaking your own material right before the take.

Key takeaways

• Move your body first to raise your heart rate and release stiffness.
• Loosen your jaw, face, and lips before you ask them to perform.
• Hum and run tongue twisters to warm your voice and articulation.
• Read a paragraph of your notes out loud as the last step before recording.