So you already know a bit about stealth walking, but you’re looking to take your ability to walk quietly to the next level. This post will help you quite a bit in that case. I want to tell you one of my secret stealth walking techniques that I use when walking on flexible materials such as creaky floorboards. If you’ve ever tried to walk over creaky floorboards you know it’s exceptionally difficult to do this quietly. You will find that you struggle to keep the boards from flexing and making horrible sounds.
Depending on the ‘creakiness’ of those boards, the sounds may carry quite far from you with every step. To combat this I have developed a secret stealth walking technique worthy of a ninja. Here’s the technique.
Planting Roots
Hopefully if you’re reading this you already know at least a basic amount about stealth walking. If you don’t I recommend you pause here and learn some basics first. You can get started reading my post “Stealth Walking 101”. Otherwise let’s continue. This technique assumes you are already using a basic stealth walking stance/gait. I recommend the “Yoko Aruki” in many cases, though a traditional forward stance is also appropriate much of the time.
For this technique, as you place your foot on the ground, flex all of the muscles in your foot. Start with your toes, and flex all the way up to at least your knee if not higher. Make your foot and your leg feel rigid and sharp. It should feel as though you are connecting with the ground. I find it is helpful to visualize that your leg is a tree trunk planting roots into the ground.
Hold this tense feeling in your leg until are ready to shift your weight onto the next foot, then and only then should it be released. If you use this technique, you’ll find a sudden reduction in the sound you make with each footstep. You see, a lot is said about how to place your foot on the ground quietly. But not enough it said about what to do once it’s already there. This technique helps you to keep your body from shifting and transferring that energy into the floor. With a solid floor such as concrete this probably doesn’t matter; but when you start to get on flexible surface it really does.
Video Example
I put together a video to demonstrate how this technique works. Please check it out and feel free to drop a comment. Thanks for taking the time to read!
