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Walk Like A Warrior

What Do I Mean?

In reading contemporary historical accounts written by soldiers (cavalry and dragoon), settlers, scouts, pioneers, and other citizens of the American frontier in the 1680s-1880s, I find mention that Native Americans (“Indians” or “Savages” in the accounts) did not walk like “white men.” Their gait, stride, and foot placement is often described in poetic terms such as “light” or “light-footed,” “fleet”, “gliding”, and often times “springy” or “spring-like.” These terms, while descriptive of the effect, do little to tell us the how or why of their gait.

Clues In History

We can find clues in the accounts given by trackers in any of the myriad “Indian Wars” or skirmishes that riddled the continent in the first few centuries spanning the settling of North America. The telltale barefoot imprint or the soft impression of a moccasin was often a giveaway that the tracker was on the trail of a Native American, but this became less reliable as more and more Anglo backwoodsmen adopted this footwear.

But there are a few accounts that mention how one could distinguish a Native American warrior’s imprint from the tracks of an Anglo by carefully inspecting the strides of the tracks. Incidentally, the strides discussed were not used exclusively by the warrior caste, but by all people of a given tribe. However, it might have been of particular value to a warrior. The key, it seems, was in the direction of the stride.

Self-Experiment Time

Try this: Stand up right now wherever you are and go for a brief walk. A mere 10-12 steps will do it. While walking, look at your feet. If you are like the vast majority of human beings you walk with the toes pointed slightly out to the side.

Now stand-stock still. Look down at your feet. Chances are you stand with your feet in this same “toes out” position. According to our trackers, the Native warrior’s imprint had zero toe-out orientation. In fact, the toes pointed in the direction of the walk.

Is this “following the toe” orientation a genetic quirk of Native American skeletal structure? An artifact of primarily living barefoot or moccasined? Or is it simply a cognitive choice? We’ll come back to these questions.

Weight Distribution

When Anglos take a step the heel lands first, followed by a rocking forward motion toward the inside ball of the foot, leading to a push off for the next step.

The Native warrior’s track, however, sees little heel imprint at all. Instead, their imprint favors the balls of their feet and/or the whole sole of the foot landing as a single unit (as if they were treating their foot like a natural snowshoe).

In Native American tracks the imprints of the ball of the foot become deeper because the calves are actively engaged to push to the next step rather than rocking into it. In essence, the balls of the feet are the 1st to make contact and the last to leave the earth with each step as you “follow the toe” with each stride forward.

If you experiment with this stride you will find that it does lend itself to such descriptors as light, gliding, and springy. One can easily imagine such a stride being extraordinarily useful for stalking, but it seems this stride was the default for Native Americans. Yes, it was used for stalking and skulking (war scenarios), but it was also in everyday life by young and old; men, women, and children alike.

Again, this begs the question: Was this a skeletal quirk? An artifact of not using hard-soled footwear over their lifespans? By choice? Bear with me, we’re almost there.

Contemporary Accounts

The contemporary accounts I mentioned, whether they be of the tribes of the Eastern woodlands, the Plains Indians, or the bands of the Southwest, often discuss incidents of remarkable endurance demonstrated by Native Americans on the move. There are many, many stories of the seemingly infinite stamina of the Native Americans relayed both admiringly and sometimes begrudgingly in military accounts from soldiers forced to face them in war.

We’ll discuss the interesting running “training” tactics used by various tribes another day, but today we’ll keep it slow and stay with the walk. And here I will paraphrase two accounts that I believe answer the questions we’ve been asking this whole time. I believe that these accounts will demonstrate that the aforementioned stride is one of conscious choice.

The Remarkable Ely S. Parker

General Ulysses S. Grant had under his command a Seneca Indian by the name of Ely S. Parker. A remarkable man who, despite being the subject of unforgivable intolerance by many, served the United States with honor, represented Native Americans with aplomb, and earned the respect of General Grant. Mr. Parker’s life deserves many words, but for now we’ll allow one anecdote to suffice as it pertains to the topic at hand.

Mr. Parker served as an engineer under Grant during the Civil War where there were often long marches through the “Wilderness.” After many days and many miles of this slogging trek, the Anglo soldiers were rightfully fatigued. Mr. Parker went to Grant and asked if he might make a suggestion to which General Grant replied “Take command.”

Parker instructed the soldiers to alter their stride from the “toes-out” position to the “following the toe” position. He offered a few words on placement, but the main crux of his instruction was that following the toes engaged more muscles in the feet and distributed the workload more equally. Mighty interesting. Here we have a Native American warrior who also happens to be an engineer who is able to articulate exactly how and why such an alteration in stride might be of value.

The moral of this particular anecdote, according to the accounts that mention it, is that the trek through the “Wilderness” was recommenced and the soldiers relayed back that they were far more refreshed and better able to bear the workload with this different method of locomotion.

So far it seems there is more than enough evidence to at least experiment with this stride, but let’s add one more piece to the “conscious choice” evidence column.

Walking Uphill

When moving uphill, Anglo tracks do not deviate from the toes-out orientation, whereas the Native American tracks abandon their “follow the toe” stride. What we find instead is a “toes-in” stride. When walking, hiking, loping up hill, Native warriors (and tribe members in general) adopted a slight pigeon-toed gait. I find this mentioned in many accounts with seldom a mention as to why…

But, then in an obscure passage we find a nameless warrior instructing an Anglo (who had adopted moccasins) to toe-in while following him up a slope.

“Why?” the Anglo asked.

“So that you don’t slip. You can grip with the feet.”

Final Thoughts

In barefoot self-experiment I find that there does indeed seem to be better traction with the toes-in method when scrambling uphill. Over the course of a few months of consciously working these techniques, I stand convinced that the “follow the toes” on flat ground and “toes-in” when going uphill are mighty useful adaptations.

Initially they call for more work from the calves that have grown used to a lifetime of heel-landing and rocking to the toes. Following the toes has let me know how long my calves have actually been dormant.

Now, whether you try the self-experiments or not is up to you, but I think we must all acknowledge that the conscious effort to make everything more efficient including our mere walking strides is a mighty thought-provoking exercise in ingenuity. What other bit of obviousness might we all be blind to?

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148 thoughts on “Walk Like A Warrior”

  1. This is very interesting, both from an efficiency standpoint, as well as culture. My husband is part Native American, and we have four little Indians — boys that run around everywhere! We are going to try this out to see how it helps.
    Is there any mention of how wearing Western-style shoes would affect this gait? I assume there must be mention that Native Americans would chaff at wearing Western-style shoes.

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  2. Already walk that way. My father and I walk that way naturally. My grandmother said it came from her father ( realfoot tribe, Cherokee). We scare ppl sometimes on accident from walking too quietly and we don’t know we are doing it. Oh and the tribe was just a few who survived from traveling.

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  3. jI am part CHEROKEE and have use those tackticks playin in the woods and fields in Tenn. and Kentucky. we would walk backwards in the same footprints the jump to one side and wait, then end up tracking our trackers!0

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  5. Great advise, but you left out a very important part of the recommendation. You briefly touched upon it but did not give it the focus it deserves.
    Walking “like an Indian” does not work easily or well with hard soled shoes. It is neigh on to impossible to maintain such a gait with hard soled shoes. I would venture to guess this is why we have mostly lost the ability to walk with the ball of the foot landing first. You can do it slowly, as in sneaking up on prey, but it is very difficult to maintain for normal walking.
    Try it. First with bare feet or in a soft soled covering like a mocassin. It is awesome, and quiet. You don’t “announce” your approach either in a building, on the street, or in the woods! Just listen to the people around you. You can hear most of them coming a mile away! Even worse, you can feel the ground or floor move much of the time as they clomp along. Imagine a deer, a rabbit, or whatever in the woods feeling that! Now take your hard soled shoe off and walk as you described with the ball of the foot landing first. It is not only quiet, but very comfortable too. I’ve walked that way for more years than I can count, when I’m not wearing hard soled shoes. My wife still doesn’t like the fact I can walk up behind her without her hearing me coming! 🙂
    You’ll probably notice that it comes naturally when you are trying to sneak up on someone or something. Only problem is the difficulty of properly placing the foot with a hard sole on. It’s a good practice to employ when “still” hunting, even if it is difficult to perform (hard soled) for extended periods of time.
    Great article. I’ve been passing the information on to my next generations for years. Not that they listen, but at least they are aware of the benefits.

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  6. This does not surprise Me. I’ve always been a bit non conventional Myself. When I was a young boy (I’m almost 54 now) I used to swim underwater in our short pool, and noticed that I tended to swim faster under water than on top. I shared this with My all knowing older brother, who told Me I was crazy. Too much drag, he argued. Well, 20 some odd years later, I was watching the Olympics, and noticed how the swimmers had totally changed the way they entered the pool. The way we used to do it (I swam as well) was to do a very shallow dive. Now it was all about staying under as long as possible because… (here comes vindication…) you go faster under water.

    Another example of what I knew way before it caught on was more related to the topic discussed above. I live in Hawaii and went to a public school 2 miles from My house. My Mom would drop me off in the morning, but I walked home every day. I surfed, so the quicker I could get home, the faster I could get out in the water, so I walked extremely quickly. If I jogged, I would never touch the heel, but rather felt less of a jar by bouncing off the balls of My feet. I was told this was all wrong, and that I should roll the foot (as explained in the article above) heel to toe. This just had too much jarring for Me so I continued to use My own method, till many many years later, I heard that there was a new report saying to (guess what?) use the ball and spring off of that because it was less jarring and more effective.

    My gait is not quite like that described by the Native Americans, however, I have noticed over the years that it is way less out turned than many of the people I have observed; some with extreme angles pointed outward.

    My brother, who played football, had a radical knee surgery (actually, a couple), his ligaments and tendons were so destroyed, that the doctors finally took some of the existing muscles and wrapped them over the knee to create their own hibrid. They taught him how to walk pigeon toed to utilize those muscles and to help him walk and run more effectively.

    Just thought some of this might interest you. Thanks for the Article. You were right; it was interesting.

    Burddah Mike

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  9. THE PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS DONE THIS. IT IS NOTHING NEW – THE BELLAGONNA HAVE ALWAYS WALKED LIKE CATTLE –

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  11. Love the article and will “stride” in my efforts to apply this technique in my day to day activities. I’ll report back in 30 days. Also a fan of kinesiology, the science of motion. Some major league pitchers study this to get optimum effect while pitching. Thanks for the lesson.

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  12. I have a book I believe it is called the Warriors walk it talks about how the french foreign legion how they march actually energizes the troops and this reminded me of that,watch some video of the french foreign legion marching.
    I’ll try to find the book or link

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  13. so that’s why i outwalk most of my contemporaries. i have mic mac indian background from when my french ancestors settled in canada 300 years ago

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  14. Many Ironworkers were & are Native American. This style of walking has made them ideal for walking the high iron.

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  15. I have some Cherokee blood (about 15%) and find this discussion very interesting. I can see the advantage to turning the feet inwards, which has the effect of giving the toes more grip. I spent my younger life hiking hunting and climbing through the mountains behind our home in southern California. Doing that every single day, usually for many hours and even whole days and overnight, I became adept at climbing and tracking animals, always moving quickly and quietly through the sometimes thick underbrush. There were deer and coyotes mostly, but also mountain lions. I usually wore shoes, but I can now see that with bare feet I’d have been better off to “follow the toes,” especially while climbing hills where the toes could better grip the ground. Watching quietly, and moving silently, I learned all the animal’s habits.

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  16. Yep it’s true. I am a quarter Blackfoot and walk that way. I have often commented as to why so many people walk with their toes pointed out. Seems uncomfortable to me.

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  17. I have always walked with feet straight. When I graduated to western wear-no traction boots, I adopted the “Duck walk” which let me push more with toes out. I noticed also when running, I ran on the balls of my feet. My daughter was told by her track coach, that she needed to learn to run heel to toe also. I will try toes in, the next hill I encounter.

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  18. I am mostly of Norwegian & Irish descent, with just a little bit of Chippewa blood. I’ve always walked toes straight ahead & never really thought about it much until years ago when I saw an article about how native Americans & the white settlers walked differently. I always noticed when someone walked with their toes pointed outwards & thought it looked a bit painful, unnatural & gimpy. I was a very good distance runner in high school, & even now at 62 have no trouble running a few miles or hiking all day, wouldn’t surprise me if my gait has a lot to do with it.

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  19. I walked this way my whole life. I had trouble though when I was in the service. When standing in formation they would force us to use a toe out position. I could never get used to toes out and would piss off my platoon leader when he saw my toe inn position. He finally gave up trying to force me into an unnatural stance. My heritage is a Cherokee Indian by half according to my Mother.

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  20. I’m a writer and currently writing a novel set in 1800s America. This information will help the descriptive accuracy. Thank you.

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  21. Lol with this article. I’ve been told to wear bells or something because I’m constantly scaring people walking up on them. I do this naturally without thinking about it and I’m even more quieter when I try to walk softly as in stalking. To the best of my knowledge l don’t have any Indian in my genes but nobody knows for sure about my dad. It seems that my grandmother had an affair when she was a young woman and nobody talks about it. The only way to find out is to have a DNA test done because both my dad and grandmother have passed away. Funny thing is I’m bleach blonde and have sky blue eyes. I can relate to wearing moccasins versus hard soled footwear. They are lighter and more comfortable for me to wear. Besides typical “Anglo” footwear are stiff making it almost impossible to walk on the ball of your feet. I’ve also been told that I don’t have feet I have hands attached to my legs because I use my toes to grip when I’m climbing or walking on a beam or rail. It just comes natural to me. One thing I can verify is by walking this way I can go longer and carry more weight than the average person or larger people. By the way I’m 6′ tall and weigh about 150 lbs. and enjoy calling 250+ lbs. muscle bound guys woose because they want to take a break and I’m just getting started.

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  22. Eli Parker was my great great great uncle! Very intelligent man. If you ever get the chance look up Warrior in two camps. Has the story of his life. With no-Indians and his tribe. Thank uou for sharing this about my great uncle.
    Harold Parker
    Seneca Tribe, New York

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  23. As a young child I would sneak up on my parents and scare them. It was just a game to me, but I never liked shoes so was barefoot most of the time and ran straight toes ahead, ball first, not heel like the schools instructed. It was like flying over the ground with your feet barely touching the earth. Wind in your face!

    Just discovering lately that my great grandmother was Native American, I now understand where certain unusual abilities have come from. — like being able to communicate with the Great Spirit’s furry creatures without harm. Also able to calm people and heal, but the most exhilarating is ridding horses at full out run and feeling the wind in my face!

    Being a writer I composed a verse called “Spirit Runner” abt a young Native American running through the wilderness high onto a mountain top. It is very spiritually moving and inspiring and was sent to several Christian Homes for Native American children. Their culture must never be allowed to die, but must be preserved as we preserve our Mother Earth.

    This is a wonderful article in today’s stressful and uncertain existence. Keep them coming!

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  24. If you step on an break a twig with heel down the sound will be funneled forward, if you break a twig toe first the sound goes where you have been. Don’t run when trying to maintain stealth you do two things you blunder into traps (trip wires) and aproach ambushes or encampments to quickly to avoid them.
    I too am of unknown descent my grandmother claimed to be an orphaned native American. Blond and blue, my sister is black hair dark brown eyes.

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  25. I studied a little ninjutsu, and this is a small part of how one is trained to move. I can’t explain how these movements were normal to me all my life, even before ninjutsu. I have been made fun of the way I walk, it has been described as pushing a statue on a skateboard across a room, also probably because I don’t swing my arms when I walk. I don’t know why, I just never liked the way it looked since I was a kid just watching other people, so I it’s a habit I opted out of and still have…

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  27. When I was little, I was “pigeon toed” and my mother went to great lengths to “fix” this condition. Including taking me to a podiatrist who manufactured hard plastic insoles to be worn inside my shoes. Over the course of a couple of years, this nudged my toes out until I was walking like a “normal” person. When I was in my twenties I injured my left knee in a motorcycle crash, and later, my right knee in a construction accident. After multiple surgeries and much distress I found that toeing in gave me great relief. I continue to walk “toes first” to this day. (I am in my 60’s).

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  28. I have known of these two walking strategies for years, but have never
    had sufficient focus, or made the consistent effort required to change
    the manner in which I walk, or hike.
    That is my stupidity in action, caused
    by my lack of attention to an obviously
    more efficient means of getting from here to there. Thanks for reminding
    me, but, in all likelihood, I’ll revert to
    my previous mode within a few days.

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  29. Makes excellent sense that your toes should be pointing in the same direction as the blows or kicks you are about to land on a would-be assailant when launching a defensive counter attack…..

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  30. I recall being in the Boy Scouts in the ’50s, and either being told or reading it in my Manual that walking with toes pointed directly forward will result in actually taking fewer steps on a long hike. There was no reference to it being the way Indians walked. When I ran track in high school (I ran the half-mile, now the 800 meters), my coach advised me to run on the balls of my feet. In fact, my running shoes had cleats on the ball of the foot and no heel or heel padding at all. Again, no reference to Indians. Never heard about toes-in for going uphill, but I’ll try it.

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  34. I just returned from hiking in national forests in New Mexico and Colorado. When moving up step trails with a pack on the more efficient method while being slightly pigeon toed is also rocking forward from rock to rock and using the fulcrum advantage of your leg bones and calfs to Tetter up and unto the rocks. This takes practice and requires moving slower a thigh altitudes but the reward is worth it.

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  35. Isn’t supposed to be “Walk like an Egyptian” Humor 🙂 Good article and a good way to work those calves. Stay light footed everyone, they will be looking for your tracks!

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  36. A very large proportion of our population willhave foot, knee, & back pproblems at sometime. Walking duck footed excessively pronates the feet (rolling them over inward),which puts additional stress on knees, which alters hip function, and leads to back pain. Foot problems often show up as flat feet or plantar fascitis. Make the changes and avoid all this mess & accompanying pain & expenses

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  37. This was awesome. I have always walked with a straight stride which I never realize that I walked that way until I went to get jogging shoes and they videoed my stride. The sales rep showed me the video and said I had a straight forward walking stride. She said I land my foot fully when I walk. That was weird. I go hiking once a year and I hope I remember to try the pigeon toe when going up hill. Thanks for this great acticle.

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  38. Great content and as always very articulate. I find the writing as intriguing as the the content! As one of your past and present students I absorb, integrate and challenge myself with the wisdom that you selflessly offer those of us who identify it’s value. I have practiced in the field of Physical Therapy in the past and we are taught the anglo’ heel strike, mid stance toe off model of human locomotion. Gait training for the allopathic physician is modeled at least to these confines. This writing is extremely valuable and I can only imagine the depth of research and examination you’ve pursued. Accolades to you.. I believe that that the variation found in human Gait are as histrionic as eye color or personality. Thank you sir for your wisdom and sharing! Forward! !

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  39. Thank-you Sir, for sharing this piece of history. I found this very interesting, and after thinking about it, I was kinda surprised I had never heard of this before, quite like this. Now I had heard of walking in particular ways for exercise, calf strengthening, toning and tightening up leg muscles and balance exercises. But I have never had this topic so perfectly explained in such a concise way from what people in today’s world would consider a “primitive ” time in this country’s history. I often think that the ones who came before us, who some consider “primitive”, we’re in many ways, much more advanced than the majority of people walking around today. Because if you took the people, of the time when Native Americans occupied all this land, and observed them. Everyone, even children, would be able to survive and thrive on their own, if they had to. But you take the people of the modern day, and take away their car, money, stores, clothing…all the “things”, and they had to be on their own. I know for a fact, w/out prepared foods people of present day would not survive long…let alone thrive. It’s sad really. This was a really great, and thought provoking piece. For me, it definitely went beyond “just walking”

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  40. I trained in Kosho Shorei Kempo, influenced by James Mitose, years ago and the placement of the foot during movement was discussed in great detail. What is said in this article I have found over the years to be of great benefit! Another bit of information I would add is the practice of slightly bending the knees pretty much all the time walking or standing is performed.

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  41. I found that by walking similar to the indians but with with knees slightly bent, I can walk lighter and more comfortable.

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  42. Might check out ‘Born To Run’. A story of ultra long distance running, and barefoot running. Also, look into 5 toe shoes. When taking Ishin-ruye Karate, they would instruct us students to practice pigeon toed to have straight feet.

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  43. I’m half Indian and have walk like that all my life and run the same way .I’ve hunted all my life and that the quite way to walk in the woods .As a track star in high school, in 1968 I ran a 48.5 second 400 meter, second fasted boy in the county .So there trust in what you say at least in my eyes.

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  44. When I was a young boy of 8 years I saw my toes pointing out and began to walk “following my toes”. I would check my footprints in the mud, the sand, and the snow to monitor my success at following my toes. I believe to this day that is what has given me strong legs without any joint aches or pain. At 67 I can still run and walk with the best of them.

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  45. Makes sense, for there is so much we could learn from our red brothers. Such as how to use the riches of nuture, by not wasting. To live off the land, & be thankful to the Great God of glory.

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  48. Many years ago, a couple in our neighborhood had a son. Our families visited from time to time & when the boy was just a few months old, the family Dr. said he’s not kicking his right leg like he should be. The Dr. said hip sockets are formed as a baby kicks his legs & he showed how to pad to the baby’s diaper so when he kicked his right leg it would be more outward, so the “ball & socket” hip joint would develop properly. (The condition is called Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip). The baby was kicking his left leg just fine, but the Dr. said we have to get the right leg to kick the same way.

    The Dr. had returned to family practice after being the team physician for the L.A. Rams & he’d studied characteristics of the fastest runners in the NFL. Once the baby was kicking like he should, the Dr. asked the parents if they wanted their boy to be a fast runner when he grew up. The parents said if he wants to get into athletics that’s fine, but we wouldn’t push him into football, basketball, track & field, etc. if he’s not interested — we’ll just have to see what his talents are & what he likes as he grows up. But they were intrigued about how a baby could grow up to be a faster runner than most other children.

    The Dr. said the quickest & fastest running backs, tight ends & wide receivers have one thing in common — they’re all slightly “pigeon-toed”. So the Dr. took a pair of baby shoes & attached a steel bar running between them to hold the boy’s feet in a slightly pigeon-toed position as he slept. Take it off when he wakes up in the morning, pad the right leg again so it’s kicking outward & the hip socket develops correctly, then put the brace back on when he falls asleep @ night.

    Did that work? Yes.

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  50. Hey Mark; Thanks for the article. I found this way of walking accidentally when I began having trouble with my knee. (Tore my meniscus and didn’t even notice). When I felt the pain, I had a ways to go so I tried positioning my knee to an inward inclining and Voila! No Pain! Since then, I have concluded that walking the Indian Warrior way puts less pressure on the knees, hips and back. Just sayin”…

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