A common thread that I weave through all of my articles is that physical training can, and should involve more than merely training the muscles to be bigger and stronger. Many aspects of your physical person can be trained, and you will likely know that if you read the writings of other people in this corner of the internet (including myself): mindset, situational awareness, meditation, et al.
One of the things that I rarely see discussed, is something that is of the utmost importance for anybody entering the business world, school, dating, or any other field where face-to-face interaction is a necessity: elocution
What Is Elocution?
Elocution is the study and practice of vocal delivery, in terms of voice, gesture, and pronunciation. Even in this day of the internet, there will come a time in your life where you have to speak publicly. More to the point of this website, there are few things that signal “beta male” more than a mumbling chump who looks down at the ground, doesn’t project, and is completely unintelligible to those that he is talking to.
There have been many books written on the topic, but the two that I used in my own elocution autodidacticism are Vocal Expression: Voice Training and Interpretation and Elocution Simplified, both of which date from the Gilded Age—like any proper physical training manual should—and can thus be found on Gutenberg (a resource I regularly use).
Before one even begins vocalizing, there are several steps you can do to improve your elocution right off the bat:
Non-Verbal Training
The first fix you can do in improving your vocal projection is to improve your posture—doing so will expand the chest, allowing greater movement of the diaphragm and lung capacity, which of course means greater capability of vocal projection and the ability to talk for longer periods without taking unseemly gasps for air.
As luck would have it, I’ve already written an extensive article on improving one’s posture, so there’s no need to be redundant. Just read that article, do its exercises, and get back here.
Once your posture has been fixed up, you can begin training yourself to breathe diaphragmatically. This is the proper way to breathe, filling your lungs up to their maximum capacity. You can tell that you’re doing it properly when you see your stomach expanding with each breath, rather than your chest. To put it another way, the chest and shoulder heaving that you do when consciously “taking a breath” is completely wrong.
The first way to train diaphragm breathing is to simply lie flat on your back and breathe as deep as you can. Do this for 5-10 minutes—don’t hyperventilate of course. Close your eyes and do them slow to get the feel of the diaphragm muscle flexing and relaxing. Feel your belly expanding with air. This is somewhat similar to the Maxick muscle control exercises that I have discussed in previous articles.
This exercise will also help you get to sleep—just do it as you lay in bed for 10 minutes or so. After you’ve mastered this exercise, stand up, and without flexing or tensing up, breath diaphragmatically. Place one hand right below the ribs and the other behind your back, and take deep breaths. Feel your stomach expanding under your hand.
Once you have mastered diaphragmatic breathing, you can begin training the mouth and tongue. Some of this training, too, can be done without actually making noise. More specifically, there are three exercises for this:
1) Drop the head until the chin rests on the breast, raise the head but not the jaw.
2) With “eyes devoid of intellect” and the mouth slack and open, shake the head until you feel the lower jaw, when the lower jaw hangs loosely from the head
3) Test your ability to surrender the jaw by placing your fingers in front of the ears at the conjunction of the jaws, open the mouth with the intention to say no and note how it feels. Then say no and “surrender” the jaw to the word, noting how it feels.
Just practice this for 5-10 minutes a day.
Reinforcing The Tone
This is opening up other facial cavities and allowing them to resonate like a bell.
Realize that “talking through the nose” is in fact NOT talking through the nose—the failure to use the nasal cavity as a resonator is what makes your voice sound “nasally.”
In fact, your entire face is a resonator.
Think of the sound IOOO. Think, almost say it, but don’t. Feel your nasal cavity expand, and then say it, let the sound run up into your noise and to your eye sockets and forehead. Then do it with a hmm, hmm until your mouth is forced open and say MMEEEE. Keep consistent tones!
Always think of tone as flooding the face, feel that flood, and then when possible hum and let it “Escape” rather than force it out. You will see resonance grow.
Training the Tongue and Lips
As with most things worth doing, training the tongue lips is simple yet tedious, and frankly will make you look like an idiot should you do these in the presence of another person. But it is essential to do if you want to speak properly.
Lip control can be done with saying ME repeatedly, letting the tone explode easily onto the lips.
The easiest tongue exercises are:
Step 1: Combine L with A with an umlaut over it and say LA. LA LA LA. LA LA LA. LA. LA
Step 2: Change the accent over the vowel and do that exercise with all the possible sounds of “A”
Step 3: Change the vowel, and then do all variations of all vowels with the letter L. (E I O U)
Step 4: Using the letter D, then T, then N put in all vowels and all accents and then repeat steps 1-3
Step 5: Follow the proceeding exercises working on groups of words of one syllable beginning with L. Late, lane, lame, lack, laugh, and so forth, for all vowels and sounds and consonants.
With all the exercises given in this article, your elocution should noticeably improve after a few practice sessions. Perhaps more advanced (and more dignified) elocution exercises will come at a later date.
Read More: How To Improve Your Sex Life With Kegel Exercises
Some really nice tips in this article…bravo, sir. I’ll bet the typical Trump protesters never study elocution, or work on vocal tone…they undoubtedly just scream a lot (click to enlarge).
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dfcb0eff0a79321cffa0f811b1edddec0bd0c8de83c4720c3ce201f02a4112e7.jpg
Any stats on how common dildo use is among working femicunts? It’s a personal thing not reported much but take a crowd and do a RF field spectral imagery to pic up the electric buzz motors and see whose crotches light up. Tiny electric motors gyrating put out a field that can be sensed similar to infra red photography. So many women are addicted to dildos. I’d like to see how many females in the state houses are ‘buzzing’ while casting votes. Or DRIVING cars, schoolbusses, you name it!! Women are turning into a bunch of jerk offs. And they always said masturbation is the chief cause of feeble mindedness.
Women are confused and flaky as they are. Dildos don’t help the situation a bit. Good God they’re everywhere.
“Your grammar is atrocious. Please remove the dildo”
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/F13g7gIEBFCOcwTGu61YsA–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9NTAwO2g9Mzcx/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/ranger/2014-10-24/a2999470-5b9b-11e4-b0a8-8d9284e31c2d_james_spader_secretary.gif
.
Two diddos. One in the ass.
https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7TKVv7KDr6Lcu9Vu/giphy.gif
Fresh duracells in. We know now.
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Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
Goodgawd Mcgoo, you’ve done it again, bravo.
Gold! Keep it up!
Grazie, good sir…
The biggest things that have helped me is slowing down my speech and focusing on resonating from the chest as opposed through the nose. These two steps keeps my voice from getting high and nasally. After that, it’s all about personal style. Pitch and cadence are the foundation.
My problem is that I impersonate voices for fun, but my natural tends to be a bit more rapid and nasaly than I would like.
My trick was to find deeper voices and impersonate them. James Earl Jones and Patrick Stewart, in particular, have both very resonant voices and impactful rhythm. As an added bonus, when I get the rhythm down, I don’t have to worry about leaving a small gap in the conversation to build impact or craft a sentence – people are willing to wait.
Also, for some people it might help to visualize speaking from the balls. When you’re practicing, imagine it coming up from your feet and resonating in your balls, and you’ll get that chest resonance.
I do the same thing. I developed my deeper voice by singing Toby Keith songs. I’m a natural baritone anyways so I just have to be mindful of it and be aware when my voice starts to creep up when I’m getting excited about a subject.
Dana Carvey looks quite youthful here (1985), like his balls just recently dropped. He does a fine job impersonating the impersonators. He stutters and hesitates very little and transitions while doing difficult improv. His breathing appears natural.
Dana Carvey – good choice. This came to my mind: Given how boys today are being raised to act girly and spineless, how many genuinely straight (not gay or bi) young men today have embedded fag voice and mannerisms even though they are completely hetero – this old sketch sums it up:
Absolutely – I advise anyone nervous about speaking to slow down. When you’re speaking, especially if you’re nervous, you don’t realize how fast you’re talking. And those pauses, which seem so long that you might feel the need to fill them with idiotic ‘uhms’ never last as long as you might think. And like you say, if you slow down you’re voice is less likely to spike into a higher register.
Also taught in acting.
I am 6’2 and did not understand the importance of standingg straight until I was almost 50. My chiropracter helped me.If I had known that earlier in life, would probably be richer. And would have gottten laid more in my 20’s.
“I am 6’2 and did not understand the importance of standingg straight until I was almost 50. My chiropracter helped me.If I had known that earlier in life, would probably be richer”
I hear ya. Lots of things I could have done in my early twenties which no doubt could have made a difference. Have things gotten better for you since improving your posture, despite now being older? Or has age pretty much closed doors on you?
My posture is pretty good now, but requires effort. But I am married/same job, nothing else has changed
Once I am done speaking, women may change their panties.
Ah, wringing out the panties in the washroom…
Drink a bottle of liberal tears to lube up your vocal chords https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d78e6ef6a902b1fdb268dca2383243102580b15dbd2d9644e691896c167bf781.png
Learning to sound like Lou Rawls helps too
If Lou Rawls were still alive, I’d convince him to take Atlanta -5.5 today against the Packers.
Now if you can convince him in his current condition to take the bed I’d be more impressed. Did savage send you the info on telegram Channel?
That would be a neat trick, no bones about it. A grave situation, for sure. Rawls would probably dish the dirt at me and bet on the Packers.
Well done
I’ve got a PU story for you which I know you will appreciate. Yes – Uncle Bob got back in the saddle. Was walking out of a convenience store two nights ago, right next to this bar. Raining cats and dogs. A cute redhead about 25-ish is walking past, all bundled up in a hoodie and jeans. We start walking in tandem, that’s just how it worked out, with her pace, and me walking out just as she passed by. So she asks me what’s up, and I say “Nada”. So I ask her what she’s up to that evening – she says, “I have no plans.” Pause. “But I really like what’s in your shorts,” and then she smiles wide.
Ding-ding-ding. That was the easiest fuck I’ve had in about a year. Went to her place – she lived literally (Hitler) right around the corner. Called a cab about 5:00 a.m. and scooted on home; left her passed out in her bed with cum dripping out of her. Score! MAGA! I was celebrating Trump and MAGA that night, so it was a fitting end to a great day. And yeah, I’m braggin’. I don’t get laid that often, being an old guy – don’t need it or want it that often.
Now come on, bust my chops with a better story. I know you have a better one than that, from your weekend exploits alone. You rascal you…
Glad you are getting back on the whores.
A dinger like that is a great way to start the season!
No story of your own? Did you do the usual thing…aren’t you banging some Slavic girl. I can’t keep ’em all straight when it comes to you. I am going back out again today (third day in a row). Took a longggg break from going out. After my luck Friday night, and getting a couple prospects in line last night, I feel as pert as a rutting buck. (Stole that one from “The Outlaw Josey Wales”.)
Yeah, my stories of late have been pretty Vanilla. I could always dig into the vault. Hell, it goes back over 3 decades and there are plenty of chestnuts. I am seeing a Romanian girl whom I am having quite a lot of fun with. I have about 2 weeks before my regular time frames force me to give her the axe. I will be sad to let this one go. She is really something. I had planned on throwing in a random lay or two with some stuff I have been grooming just to keep my head and priorities straight, but i never seem to have the time ya know. So while I have been having quite a lot of fun the stories all go like “i text her and tell her where to be and when to be there, I get there early for a drink, she arrives and looks stunning, we have a fun time and then play hide the salami until all further attempt are futile due to physical limitations” A great time, but not a great story.
Well that sounds pretty good. What if…what if the Romanian girl is a keeper…beyond your eight-week time frame. Is that possible, or no, you will cut her loose no matter what. My stories are few and far between but they usually work out just like that last one. Young women are fucking brazen these days. If they package-check you and they like what they see, they are bold. I usually blow that kind of stuff off but I was buzzed, and so was the redhead, and it had been a long time since I’d been laid. But the shit I hear from young women sometimes, it’s astonishing. Back in my day women didn’t voice their thoughts like that. These young sluts today, they will just lay it out there. Kind of cool in a way, and kind of disgusting in another way.
8 weeks is hard cut off. After a suitable period I could always re-up but I need to put a little mileage down between stints. She is definitely a keeper but I don’t want to keep anyone.
Yes, the seed that Britney Spears planted back when she was hot has come to blossom. It’s wonderful
Hit me baby one more time…la la la.
I see your point. A man has to stick to his principles or he is lost.
Poor Lou Rawls. I tried to dig him up, but could not find him before kickoff yesterday…
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Oops she did it again!
Yeah, I deviated from my principles one time. It was a 2 year living hell. The only thing I got out of it was a very expensive lesson.
Nice call there Bob! But I expect it at this point
I misspelled principles. Wow. Talk about not sticking to one’s principles.
Two-year living hell, huh. Been there, done that. She must have been uber-hot. Thought she was a princess and her vagina was made of platinum. At least you got through it. Lots of guys never come back from something like that. So you won, and she lost. She’ll hit the wall (or already has) and then you will get your revenge. It’s that short shelf life for women that is the real killer. They have a very few years to stay at the top of the SMV mountain. Whereas men – heh – we can stay there until we’re dead, basically.
She was a real beauty but it wasn’t about that. Actually it wasn’t pretty much the biggest stereotype ever. Turning 40 soon, motorcycle accident, thinking about future, tons of Vicodin, blah blah blah.
Hard beat, but better than it could have been. Also, it was the only relationship I’d ever been in that broke the pattern. One and done.
Turn the page, right? (Vicodin – I hear it’s a bitch getting off of that stuff.) Speaking of that SMV thing and women. There’s this little dive bar I go to a couple blocks from my hotel in Phoenix. I’ve been going there about once a week for the last four and a half years now. When I first started going there, there was this incredibly hot blonde who was bartending. Beautiful face, killer body, about 22 years old. Whenever she sat outside on the patio and took a break, guys would surround her like flies around honey. I remember her wearing these short-shorts a few summers back, her legs and ass…wow, just wow, you wanted to crawl up those legs, right to her ass. Fast-forward to today. She’s about 27. She must weigh 190 pounds now. She has tattoos all over her skin. And she’s a fat, bitter bitch with a child. It happens that quickly for them. Last night I was in there, and there was some new meat working – this good-looking brunette waitress. She and I were flirting all night long, and the blonde, I could tell she didn’t like it. She didn’t like it because she’s not the one getting atttention from men any longer. Oh well. “Hey, did you ever think about putting that fork down, fat girl? Ever think about diet and exercise? No?” What a waste. It’s like they all do the same thing – get knocked up, have the kid (never think about abortions), have some guy pay for it, and they think they’ll be on easy street. No. It doesn’t work that way. The good thing is, there are new ones coming up, as you and I are well aware – 21 years old, hot, fresh, stupid and willing. So it goes…
“to her place – she lived literally (Hitler) right around the corner. Called a cab about 5:00 a.m. ”
LOL ! Bob what does “litetally (Hitler)” mean? First time I heard that expression.
Well according to the experts – http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/literally-hitler
Actually I think singing is a great way to practice a deep resonating voice. Occasionally I will sing a song or two in the car and really focus on singing them an octave lower than I normally would. Great time to focus on it with no one else around.
Say it with your chest!
Exactly. When you speak it should reverberate in your chest.
Having a dominant voice not only makes you more attractive, it makes you more persuasive as well. Strong vocal cues started from the beginning of the conversation often dictate the entirety of it. Great work.
Another great article Larsen. I really liked this one. Posture is my achillies heel. I naturally have bad posture and forced myself into “good posture” early on but that good posture was that stupid military posture that everyone thinks is good but is actually just as bad as slouching. I am to a point now where I don’t have to think about it too much to walk with a healthy and neutral posture (when sober lol) but I do have to give myself posture checks several times a day.
I’ve always had good posture but I still have to be mindful about it. I focus on my lower back and shoulder blades. Back erect and shoulder blades pulled slightly together.
Pulling the shoulder blades together is my thing too. That is the first to go if I am not at least a little mindful. I am flat footed which actually helps with lifting, but isn’t great for having a natural and confident stride. But like all things, nature can be overcome by the determination of man.
Flat feet can sometimes be a sign of iodine deficiency, and can be reversed (with iodine).
never heard that. I will do a few google searches and then try to add more iodine to my body. I have always been like this (and frankly i think it helps with deadlifts) but good lookin’ out brother. I will check into it.
I heard about it from this Doctor (below) as my foot kind of collapsed and iodine fixed it, which seems illogical given it is for the thyroid. Werid how the body is linked together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dneTSBfxDlE
The body is such a wild mystery. Thanks for this video. There is no end to how much we can learn
What’s your bench, deadlift, and squat?
Right now I am not chasing high weights. After several injuries I have decided to keep my weights low and reps higher. My all time dead was 505. Bench was always my weakest lift and my 1rm was high 200s I’d have to look in my books. Never broke 300 though. Squat was 345 I think. But that was almost 2 years ago. My current trainer has me moving from powerlifting to body building routines which is a lot of super and giant sets and high rep ranges. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the heavy lifts, but my spine just won’t tolerate them any more.
Sorry to hear about your spine. I had some weird knee injury for 6 months about 3 years ago and then fell off a ladder from a roof 2 years ago. I’ve been 100% for about a year now. It sucks to be injured and miss out on certain lifts.
No worries mate. Knee injuries are horrible, trust me I know (see my user name). When in look at guys like Nick Santos (body builder born with no legs and one arm) or KC Mitchel (power lifter who lost a leg to an IED) I know that no matter what happens the human body can over come. You may have to make some changes, but you can always find your way. Never give up.
It is important to avoid bad elocution!
LOL Animaniacs. make cartoons great again
omg..young people today can barely be heard. Not only mumbling but no volume??! Speak up for fucks sake…
Another way to improve your speech is to improve your vocabulary, and the best way to that is to read the Classics.
I am very concious of this and work hard on my voice, partially for work and partially as an art form. Ive done some voice over work and was lead singer in some bands. Having clarity and speaking from the chest definitely gets attention and respect. But you MUST bring a big personality to match it!
Yes you can develop a deeper voice with practice. Be prepared to be disliked by feminists. You will ooze masculinity with a deeper, clearer voice. It sometimes intimidates those masculine women looking for pushover nerds. But It feels nice outshining a room full of nasal talking, virtue signaling liberal manboys.
I also avoid the word “um.” Its extremely difficult. We use it when we’re thinking. But without it, I sound like I’m taking dramatic pauses. It has a great effect on the listener. When I do public presentations for the board or sales floor at work, I’m always complimented on being a great teacher.
It wasnt always like this. I used to cry a lot in school and had very low self esteem. Fake it till you make it!
I did a voice over for an assignment in the course im doing. I enjoyed it quite a bit and thought it souded reasonably professional. As a musician i have good mic’s which help..
Wondering if you could point me in the direction of possibly being able to pick up some work in voice overs? where would i start so to speak?..
“Wondering if you could point me in the direction of possibly being able to pick up some work in voice overs? ”
My sugesstion night be to set up an account at fiverr.com. You just need post your voice over samples. See what the other voiceover guys are offering.
Cheers man.
I have no idea how it will work out for you, but at least it might serve as a jumping point. Good luck, man.
it looks interesting non the less 😉
You can get all of this automatically by taking a stage acting class. Might be an interesting way to approach it if you’re in need of motivation.
Do improv. It has all the benefits of stage acting PLUS moves the needle on your life-o-the-party meter.
Excellent piece.
I almost hate to say it (because it goes to show you just how shallow most people are), but adults started taking me way more seriously when I dropped the “New Yawk”-style accent at college. My dorm roommate came from Boston and he had a thick Boston accent; mine was more Philadelphia/South Jersey. We were both academically and socially ambitious young dudes. He and I realized in the very first month of freshman year that people would probably take us more seriously if we let go of the local dialects and improved our verbal tones and elocution. We made a pact to change that and saw it as a challenge to see who could eliminate the accent first.
It took us a while to shake the habit–my buddy actually needed a professional speech therapist to get it done (not kidding)–and we both admitted to slipping right back into the old accents whenever we visited our childhood homes. Point is, the training ultimately worked; we ditched the local accents as a more even, level voice became permanent by sophomore year.
Odd thing how **some** accents make people underestimate your IQ and power level. Meanwhile, other accents–especially that British lilt–seem to elevate others’ sense of your intelligence even if it’s not true. It’s like the notion of “first impressions”–we all know such moments are probably bullshit, but they matter anyway!
Ah the old working class Philly accent….I’m originally from South Jersey too with roots in Philly and have inherited some of it as well. One problem I’ve been able to slowly eradicate is not fully pronouncing all letters in a word even though I think I am, ex: “Wall Wi’men Bridge” (Walt Whitman), going to “Cenner City” (Center City) or calling cold weather season “winner”. In my mind I was fully pronouncing the words but in reality they weren’t being fully enunciated. I don’t mind local accents as they add regional flavor to this globalised world, but unfortunately outsiders do often view that differently. I do thank God that I never learned to call water “wooder” though.
A posh British accent automatically gives a person 10 extra IQ points.
A posh English accent.
Interesting. I’m Australian born and raised my entire life, but so many people (fellow Australians included) have confused me for a Brit when they first meet me, based upon the way I talk.
As an aside, I am a master at impersonating the South African accent. Get me amongst a bunch of Saffas who I haven’t met before and I can fool them for ages!
Ha I can speak English like Indians, with a bit of Hinglish thrown in here and there and all of that.
All you need is to be white, beat a nigger with a big stick while listening to Rodrigez and you can fool anyone for being south african.
“Odd thing how **some** accents make people underestimate your IQ and power level.”
The same applies to other languages such as French. A Belgian or Quebecois accent makes the individual sound like a total retard and a Parisian accent automatically increases your perceived IQ.
This is why you need ‘fuck you money’. then you can walk around in velvet smoking crack laced joints spitting in peoples faces and get away with it.
Excellent, man. Improving my speaking has been one of my latest objectives in self improvrment.
For a deeper voice, say “ding dong, bing bong, king Kong” dragging out the “ing” sound as long as possible. Do this no more than 3x a day for a week. Enjoy the results.
I wonder if that works for penis enlargement, too…
I dunno. Never measured it before I did those voice exercises.
I figured you might notice by the before vs. after tones of their moans.
Doing a waveform analysis seems a little inappropriate to do at the time.
Yeah, I could see how this is sliding down the slippery slope that ends up balls-deep in the quantum physics of event horizons of black holes, holy smokes…
Or the logistics of bleached black holes!
Bleached wormholes?
As long as we aren’t going through Morgan Freeman’s wormhole we’re good.
I remember when my trendy friends used to mock me for having a voice like Johnny Cash while they talked like the pimply faced teen from The Simpsons. I now treasure my voice as a virtue.
And they wondered why all the broads were giving you all of the bj’s.
and why all the liquor stores never asked me for ID
This is long over due. We are an aging society- and those with hearing loss will struggle- good annunciation is important.
growing up the elders would say “stand up straight”, I never hear that any more.
You would if you were my son, chief.
Does it count if the voices in my head speak strongly?
Only if you act on those voices.
Depends what language they’re speaking.
Icelandic
You’d better do as they say.
I want to, I really do but, I don’t speak Icelandic.
So, call a random number in Iceland and repeat what the voices are saying to you.
They have phones there? Maybe that’s how the voices got in my head.
LOL I bet the voices are telling you don’t eat the shark, it tastes like mouldy shoes.
On top of your voice is how much you say. We have this wormy little guy at work that keeps chattering on and on about nothing. You would think he was a woman. On the flip side, don’t be afraid to speak up when things are pertinent.
I do karaoke. My singing sucks so I confine it to my sauna at home when I’m having a sweat.
I pick songs that are in keys that are just out of my natural range. I force myself to try to get in tune. Weirdly, it’s trying to sing higher notes than I’m used to that improves the timbre of my voice overall.
I do a lot of public speaking and get compliments on my voice and projection all the time.
Take an acting class or public speaking class. I would more strongly suggest acting. Voice projection to the last row, diction, body carriage. These are all covered.