If you've spent any time in trans voice training, you've probably heard it a hundred times: warm up before you practice. And it's true! A daily voice warm-up builds habit, develops body awareness (also called proprioception), and helps you get comfortable with the frankly ridiculous sounds that voice training requires. That last one is underrated.
But here's the thing: most ready-made warm-ups are 20 to 25 minutes long. And while that's wonderful in theory, it's not always realistic. Some days you have five minutes. Some days you need variety. Some days you want to focus on one specific thing.
So instead of handing you another follow-along routine, I'm going to teach you the five-element formula behind every effective trans voice warm-up so you can build one that works for your actual life.
Watch the Full Video
Prefer to read? Keep scrolling for the complete five-element warm-up formula, options for every time budget, and ready-to-go templates.
Why a Daily Warm-Up Matters for Trans Voice Training
A voice warm-up isn't just about loosening up the muscles that support your voice before a practice session, though it does that too. When you warm up consistently, you're building a low-stakes space to explore your voice without the pressure of "performing" your gender in real life. That separation is genuinely valuable, especially early in your training.
Warming up also helps you develop proprioception—the ability to feel what your voice is doing from the inside rather than just monitoring it from the outside. Many trans and gender-expansive people struggle with body awareness when they start voice work, and a daily warm-up is one of the most effective ways to develop it over time.
And practically speaking, it makes you more comfortable with the weird sounds. Voice training involves humming, trilling, sighing, and making noises that would be deeply confusing to anyone who walked in on you mid-session. A daily warm-up normalizes all of that, which means you'll practice more freely and make faster progress.
Want to go deeper on the fundamentals before diving into warm-up design? The Gender-Affirming Voice 101 series is a great place to start.
The Ultimate Guide to Trans Voice Training
The Five Essential Elements of a Voice Warm-Up
Every effective voice warm-up (whether it's five minutes or twenty-five) needs these five elements, in this order:
Wake Up Your Body – Release tension and improve posture.
Wake Up Your Face – Mobilize your jaw, tongue, and lips.
Wake Up Your Breath – Activate your breath support before you make any sound.
Wake Up Your Voice – Get your vocal folds vibrating across your full range.
Do Something Fun – Keep it playful so you actually come back tomorrow.
That's it. You can move through all five in as little as five minutes, or stretch them out to twenty-five. The key is hitting all five in order, because each element builds on the last. Now let's break down what each one looks like in practice.
Next we'll go into the five elements and some options for each, but watch the video for examples of me doing each option.
Element 1: Wake Up Your Body
Your voice doesn't exist in a vacuum. Tension in your shoulders shows up as tension in your sound. That's why we start with the body.
The goal here is to release physical tension you may not even notice you're carrying, and to check in with your posture, since posture and breath support are closely interrelated.
Options to choose from:
Full body shake (30 seconds)
Posture check-in (30 seconds)
Shoulder rolls and neck stretches (1–2 minutes)
Ragdoll stretch—fold forward and let your head hang (1–2 minutes)
Full body stretching routine (5–8 minutes)
Pick one or more. This element can range from 30 seconds to 8 minutes depending on how much time you have.
Element 2: Wake Up Your Face
For voice practice, you want your face to be mobile and relaxed. This is also where things get a little silly, which is by design. Tolerating the ridiculous is a genuine voice training skill. If you're too invested in being cool at all times, voice work is going to be harder than it needs to be.
The goal here is to mobilis\ze your jaw, tongue, and lips before you bring in any sound.
Options to choose from:
Raisins and grapes: scrunch your face tight, then open wide (30 seconds)
Jaw massage (1 minute)
Big exaggerated yawns (30 seconds)
Blah-blah-blah with a floppy, relaxed tongue (30 seconds)
Shake weight jaw loosener: let your jaw wobble as you shake grasped hands (1 minute)
Pick one or more. This element takes about 30 seconds to 3 minutes.
Element 3: Wake Up Your Breath
Before you make sound, you need airflow. Your breath is your voice's power source, and this element is all about activating breath support without phonation—meaning no voice yet, just air. That separation lets you focus entirely on how you're breathing before you add the complexity of sound.
Options to choose from:
Long hiss on "sssss": hold as long as you can (30 seconds)
Hiss with bursts: "sss-sss-sss," feeling your abs engage on each burst (30 seconds)
Librarian bursts: "sh-sh-sh-shhhhhh" (30 seconds)
Panting like a dog (30 seconds)
Unphonated lip trills: lips fluttering with no voice (30 seconds)
Pick one or more. This element takes about 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
Element 4: Wake Up Your Voice
Now we add sound. The goal is to get your vocal folds vibrating gently across your range, starting soft and easy, then exploring further. This isn't the time to push for your goal voice; it's just about waking everything up.
One practical note: think about when in your day this warm-up makes sense if you're self-conscious about making noise. I made a whole video about where/how to practice when you're worried about being heard. It's worth a watch if that's a barrier for you.
Options to choose from:
Descending sighs on "ah~~~" (1–2 minutes)
Pitch circles—spiralling up and down on "ah" (1–2 minutes)
Lip trills with sound (1–2 minutes)
Sirens—slide from low to high and back (1–2 minutes)
Humming at different pitches (1–2 minutes)
Straw phonation (2–5 minutes)—I have several videos dedicated to this, including a full straw phonation warm-up if you want guidance
Pick one or more. This element takes 1–5 minutes.
How to Practice Trans Voice Training While Keeping Your Privacy
Element 5: Do Something Fun
This is technically optional. But I strongly recommend it, because play is what keeps you coming back. If your warm-up feels like a chore, you'll avoid it. If it ends on something you actually enjoy, you'll look forward to it.
The goal here is something that feels like play rather than another task to tick off a list.
Options to choose from:
Animal sounds (meow, woof, roar—go for it) (30 seconds)
Sing part of a song you love (1 minute)
Character voices or impressions (1 minute)
Gibberish conversation with yourself (1 minute)
Read one sentence five different ways (1 minute)
Pick one. This element takes 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
The Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Method
If you get bored doing the same warm-up every day (and many people do), try this: write down all your options for each of the five elements, and then randomise your selections each day.
You could roll a die, draw from a hat, use a random number generator, or simply pick whichever option sounds most appealing that day. This way, you're always hitting the five essential elements in the right order, but you're never doing exactly the same warm-up twice. It keeps things fresh without requiring any advance planning.
Example Warm-Ups by Time
Still not sure where to start? Here are three ready-to-go templates using the formula above.
The Speed Run (5 minutes)
Full body shake (30 sec)
Raisins and grapes (30 sec)
Hiss with bursts (30 sec)
Descending sighs (2 min)
Animal sounds (1.5 min)
The Daily Driver (10 minutes)
Neck and shoulder stretches (2 min)
Jaw massage and yawns (2 min)
Long hiss (1 min)
Descending sighs and pitch circles (4 min)
Animal sounds (1 min)
The Deluxe (15–20 minutes)
Full body stretching routine (5–8 min)
Face massage and shake weight jaw loosener (3 min)
Unphonated trills and librarian bursts (2 min)
Full vocal range exploration (5–7 min)
Sing a song (2 min)
Notice that the Speed Run and the Deluxe have the same five-element structure, just scaled to the time you have. That's the whole point of the formula.
The Most Important Thing
Here's the truth: consistency beats duration every single time. A three-minute warm-up you do every day will serve you better than a fifteen-minute one you do once a week. A five-minute warm-up three times a week beats a twenty-five-minute warm-up you dread and avoid.
So build something that fits your schedule, doesn't bore you to tears, covers the five essential elements, and leaves you feeling ready to practise. That's the whole bar.
And here's a tip for the long game: start at a length that feels genuinely easy. Over time, as the habit solidifies, add one small thing. Then another. Eventually you may find yourself doing that 25-minute warm-up you once thought was completely unrealistic, because you got there gradually, not all at once.
There's no voice police checking whether you did it right. This is your warm-up. Make it yours.
Want support building a sustainable voice practice? My free one-hour masterclass, Change the Gender of Your Voice: No Hormones or Surgeries Required, is a great next step. We cover the foundations of voice training in a way that's accessible and affirming, no matter where you're starting from.
Change The Gender of Your Voice (No Hormones or Surgery Required!)
Body, face, breath, voice, and something fun—in that order. Each one builds on the last, and all five matter regardless of how much time you have.
Duration Is Flexible; Structure Is Not
You can move through all five elements in five minutes or twenty-five. What matters is the sequence, not the length. Scale to your life, not to some ideal.
Variety Prevents Avoidance
If you're getting bored, randomise your selections using the choose-your-own-adventure method. Novelty keeps the habit alive.
Consistency Is the Real Goal
The best warm-up is the one you'll actually do. Start small, show up regularly, and build from there.
Free Follow-Along Voice Warm-Ups
If you'd rather follow along than build from scratch (at least to start), I have three free 25-minute warm-ups available for download: one for feminization, one for masculinization, and one for nonbinary voice goals. They're comprehensive, they follow the same five-element structure covered in this post, and they're completely free.
They make a great companion to the formula above. You can use them on days when you want guidance, and build your own on days when you want variety or a shorter session.
The formula is simple: body, face, breath, voice, fun. Five elements, any time budget, infinite variations. Whether you have five minutes before work or twenty-five minutes on a slow Sunday morning, you now have everything you need to build a trans voice warm-up that actually fits your life.
Start small. Stay consistent. And don't underestimate the power of making things a little bit ridiculous because that's where the real progress hides.
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Want weekly tips, resources, and insights on trans voice training? Sign up for my newsletter and get the latest content delivered straight to your inbox. It's free!
Want weekly tips, resources, and insights on trans voice training? Sign up for my newsletter and get the latest content delivered straight to your inbox. It's free!
I know you're here because you're striving to live your most authentic life, yet one major hurdle remains: your voice. Instead of empowering you, it brings dysphoria, misgendering, and discomfort.
So, are you ready to create a voice that resonates deeply and authentically with who you are? Join me for an empowering FREE webinar where you'll learn practical and easy skills that will show you how to create a voice that fills you with confidence and joy—without relying on medical interventions!
