ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Exercise Physiology
This article is part of the Research TopicAssessment and Monitoring of Human Movement Volume IIView all 13 articles
A Study on the Correlation Between Knee Muscle Strength and Agility in Competitive Wushu Changquan Athletes
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Physical Education, Kunsan National University,, Gunsan, 54150, Republic of Korea
- 2School of Physical Education, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China
- 3University For Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
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Background: Changquan (Long Fist) is a competitive martial arts discipline characterized by complex offensive and defensive techniques requiring high levels of coordination, agility, and strength. The knee joint, as the central link between the upper and lower limbs, plays a vital role in generating power and maintaining movement stability. This study investigated the relationship between knee joint muscle strength and agility (sensitivity) among competitive Changquan athletes. Method: A mixed-method design involving literature review, expert interviews, questionnaire survey, and experimental testing was employed. Twelve male Changquan athletes underwent bilateral isokinetic knee strength assessments at angular velocities of 60°/s (maximal strength) and 240°/s (explosive strength) using a Biodex System 4 Pro dynamometer. Peak torque (PT), relative peak torque (PT/BW, %BWBW), flexor– extensor ratio (F:E), total work (TW), and endurance ratio (ER) were recorded. Agility was evaluated using the T-test and 15-second push-up test. Pearson correlation analysis examined relationships between strength and agility parameters. Results: Results showed that knee extensor strength exceeded flexor strength, with mean peak torque values of 236.39 ± 17.62 N·m and 131.99 ± 13.54 N·m at 60°/s, and 133.85 ± 12.47 N·m and 97.85 ± 10.61 N·m at 240°/s. The right side was slightly stronger, though differences were not significant (p > 0.05). Athletes achieved excellent agility scores (T-test: 9.31 ± 0.16 s; push-ups: 9.66 ± 0.89 reps). Strong positive correlations were found between agility and slow flexor peak torque (r = 0.699, p = 0.011), slow extensor relative peak torque (r = 0.578, p = 0.049), and total work of slow flexors (r = 0.619, p = 0.032). The degree of correlation with sensitivityagility quality followed the order: maximal strength > explosive power > strength endurance. Conclusion: Competitive Wushu Changquan athletes possess relatively balanced bilateral knee muscle strength; however, the flexor muscles are comparatively weaker, which may increase the risk of sports injury. Knee joint muscle strength particularly maximal and explosive flexor capacity is a key determinant of agility in competitive Wushu Changquan athletes. Balanced enhancement of flexor and extensor strength is recommended to improve performance efficiency, technical execution, and injury prevention.
Keywords: agility, Changquan (Long Fist), Competitive Wushu, Isokinetic strength, knee joint strength
Received: 31 Oct 2025; Accepted: 02 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Zhiyong, Weitang, Hadier, Xiaoyuan and Hokun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Li Weitang
Syed Ghufran Hadier
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