How to Tell If a Guy Loves You by the Way He Walks

by Gena Kaufman

He loves you: He skips and whistles any time he's with you.
He loves you not: He lies on the ground kicking and screaming while you drag him by the wrist to your date.

I kid, I kid. If it's as obvious as either of those two, I don't think you'd have any questions (except for maybe if your boyfriend is secretly an overgrown toddler permanently stuck in the temper tantrum phase). But there is seriously a way you might be able to tell if a guy loves you or just feels friendly based on his gait.

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According to new research, men will adjust their speed when walking with a romantic partner to match her optimal pace. They don't do the same when walking with a female friend. That's actually pretty adorable for couples, but not so adorable when you're running all over New York City looking for a crappy apartment and trying to keep up with your long-legged, 6'4" platonic guy friend in 96-degree heat. He knows who he is.

Ahem. Anyway. Participants in the study, who were heterosexual couples, were asked to walk solo around a track at their preferred pace, which was recorded. The men's average pace was 3.4 mph while the women's was 3.2 mph.

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Then, they were asked to walk the same path a few more times: with a romantic partner, with a same sex friend, and with an opposite-sex friend. Walking paces altered for each different phase. When men walked together, both of them walked faster than they had alone. When men and women in platonic friendships walked together, the men slowed down while the women sped up. When women walked together, they actually both walked more slowly than their optimal pace. But for the couples, men slowed their pace to match the preferred pace of their woman, whether or not they were holding hands.

Awww. Thanks for walking beside us, guys.

Does your guy always walk right beside you? Is he a lot taller than you or not so much? (You may need to make allowances if he's got a foot on you.) And are you two hand-holders? Holding hands might be the number one thing I miss about being in a relationship.

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