Protect Yourself from Muggers By Changing How You Walk

According to research, it isn't just where you're walking that makes you vulnerable to crime, it's how you're doing it.

According to research from the 1980's, it isn't just where you're walking that makes you vulnerable to crime, it's how you're doing it.

Now a new study based on criminal responses shows that people with clumsier gaits are more likely to be chosen by their attackers.

Their assertion followed research that involved filming 12 people on the sly as they walked as they normally do.

Some of them had been victims of crimes and some not.

The footage was then shown to a group of prisoners who exhibited several benchmark traits of psychopaths like having no empathy and being manipulative.

They were asked to pick the best potential victims out of the bunch.

Lo and behold, they were more likely to choose the ones who happened to have been the targets of criminals in the past.

Each of them walked in a style that was described as being slow, somewhat out of sync, and with short strides.

If that describes you or someone you love, rest assured that it's something experts have proven people can change.

One researcher in a separate study did so by training people plagued by the victim walk to change the synchrony of their steps and adjust their energy levels, leading to a marked decrease in their vulnerability ratings.