TMG Knee Angle Test

TMG knee angle test gives us information about quadriceps muscles activation level and activation structure for different lengths of the muscle. The results of the test are applied in strength and power training for the development of specific leg muscle strength. The results give us direct information about the angles at which an athlete should perform squats or train on the leg press machine to reach optimum results in increasing strength with minimum body weight increase. With the TMG Knee Angle Test the increase in the relative leg strength can be maximized.

This test can be applied for any type of sport but we particularly recommend it for the following sports:

- alpine skiing
- ski jumping
- cycling
- track and field: sprinting & jumping
- other sports where the component of maximum explosive strength is important.



Test description:

We measure three quadriceps muscles, i.e. vastus medialis, vastus lateralis and rectus femoris, at different muscle lengths. We change the muscle length by changing the knee angle from 1800 (totally extended leg – minimum length of the muscle) to 900 (flexed leg – nearly maximum muscle length). The measurement is done separately for each leg. The test is done under laboratory conditions because a special measurement table is needed for the exact knee angle determination.

If we plot the measurement results from all the measurements (at different knee angles), we get the corresponding curve for each specific sport. We can check if the athlete’s muscles are responding as they should for his sport and, if not, we can make recommendations how to train in order to be able to reach the optimum performance.



The purpose of the test is to detect sports-specific properties of the muscles of an athlete and to derive practical training guidelines:

- the determination of optimum knee angles for specific leg strength exercises
- training optimisation for every individual athlete
- the monitoring of progress during training (if sport-specific muscle properties are being properly developed)

The main benefits of TMG optimum knee muscle test:

- a maximum increase of leg strength with a minimum body mass increase – the highest increase in relative strength (jumps, ski jumps, skiing) For every athlete we individually determine at what knee angles the fast twitch fibres are activated selectively. With selective approach to only one muscle fibre type (just fast twitch fibres), we avoid excessive body mass increase. The “penalty” for better performance is minimized.
- an increase in specific leg strength with a substantial body mass increase (American football) We determine the knee angles at which the maximum number of all (fast and slow) muscle fibres are activated. With this training protocol we significantly increase lean body mass in the shortest period of time. Such information can, for instance, be of great importance to the players in linebacker position in American football.