Paintball

[Born4Evil]

I'd agree with most that footwear helps very little.

In addition to the tips above, I offer this:

For woodsball, moving when the wind blows helps ALOT. A strong enough breeze rustles enough leaves to cover more noise than you think, especially heard through a paintball mask.

I also tend to move while people are firing...they can't hear much over the racket they are making inches from their own ears...

[joedirt199]

I bought a pair of vibrams and after runninh three miles in them i had calf soreness for about a week. I have no doubt that they help you use other muscles you dont normally use in regular shoes.

[No Mercy Ever]

Originally Posted by joedirt199

I bought a pair of vibrams and after runninh three miles in them i had calf soreness for about a week. I have no doubt that they help you use other muscles you dont normally use in regular shoes.

You are only supposed to wear them for about two or so hours a day, for about two to four days, before doing something like that. But even if you do break yourself in with them, you will still get sore muscles in your legs that you never knew that you had there.

[joedirt199]

i did wear them around the house and while exercising downstairs but when the cross country wife wanted to go for a jog, i jumped at the chance. thought they would hurt my feet running on concrete but didn't really notice that. even small rocks were a breeze. definately need socks with them.

[No Mercy Ever]

Yeah, I wear socks with mine. I just picked up some Injinji one's made from Nu-Wool. They should help a bit with colder weather, which we are hopefully getting out of...

[R_Os]

Originally Posted by Born4Evil

I'd agree with most that footwear helps very little.

In addition to the tips above, I offer this:

For woodsball, moving when the wind blows helps ALOT. A strong enough breeze rustles enough leaves to cover more noise than you think, especially heard through a paintball mask.

I also tend to move while people are firing...they can't hear much over the racket they are making inches from their own ears...

This, for sure. Other people firing, yelling, wind, etc. All are cover for the noises you make.

Something else to consider is your breathing and heartbeat. If you've been running and are sucking wind, you can't hear anything other than your blood rushing around in your head and the desperate gasping that comes with moving fast when out of shape. That is the same for your opponents. If you see someone sprint 100ft to a bunker, they likely won't hear you running full out at it for at least a few seconds. So you're free to move around without worrying as much about noise.
Also keeping your heart rate low enough to keep from hearing it in your ears helps you hear the noise you're making which helps you keep it at a minimum.
As well, if you can move silently enough to remain undetected alongside a loud moving group of teammates you can usually surprise the enemies they will attract. As you're already on the flank and they won't know it, you're free to blast em with your paint flinging device.

[joedirt199]

try not to move small trees and limbs as you walk or crawl. dead giveaway to anyone who is looking for you knows that something is makeing those trees sway when the wind is not.