Can I Do Extra Mobility Exercises?

Hi all, 

I have read over a lot of the forum and I realize that Coach doesn't want us to do extra strength exercises and I constantly hear "Stick to the program". 

However, I'm wondering if this includes the Mobility Exercises as well. I have somewhat tight shoulders and love a few of the shoulder mobility exercises, i.e., Xiaopeng Forward/Backward.

Would it be bad if I did some of these mobility exercises every day? I obviously won't do the mobility exercises that I haven't mastered, but I'm more wondering if it's okay to go back and do the exercises that I've passed? And if yes, is there a limit to how much and how often I can be doing them? 

Thanks, 

Sean 

I recommend the stretch series if you have tight shoulders. Thoracic bridge targets that specifically.

If you want to do some of your already mastered iMs more frequently you could put them in your warmup each day.

Provided that you are recovering adequately, extra mobility work should be fine.  Some of the mobility work from progressions already mastered is simply too good to omit.  I will often do exercises like dislocates at the end of the workout.  I have found certain mobility exercises address very well my particular deficits, and retain them, or have proved to promote a good response.  Or, I simply enjoy doing them.  Just don't over do it.  

Adding dedicated stretching is a good idea.

You can do additional mobility work, but remember that more isn't always better. Raise the volume slowly and pay attention to how your body is reacting to the increase. 

I don't think there is a problem with limbering. I do f1,h1, stretch and on rest days I jump rope and do some limber. By limbering I just workout in range of motion that I know I can reach. So you can ad some limbering work if you want.

I add extra iM exercises a couple of times a week. Mostly weak links.

It's a good thing, but step lightly with weighted mobility. Keep the weight conservative until you have confirmed that it's not interfering with your actual workout days.

For eg, for myself, broomstick or band dislocates daily are one thing; trying to do a challenging weight more than a few days in a row would either force me to do it so wide that it'd be a waste of time, or I'd quickly develop irritation. That sort of thing

are you really doing dislocates everyday? i remember, Mats said that dislocates was not so good idea, daily. i try to keep my dislocates in H days only(2days) looks like i going to have a change.

strme said:

are you really doing dislocates everyday? i remember, Mats said that dislocates was not so good idea, daily. i try to keep my dislocates in H days only(2days) looks like i going to have a change.

20kg 2x a week, 1x10 after F7 workout. Not fussed about increasing the weight any further, just go to my comfortable max (min) width for the day.  Unweighted, they're no problem for me to move through full ROM anytime during the day, no irritation or anything. I don't, generally, because I get more out of heavy infrequently, but when I'm busy and away from the weights I basically g2g low load- high payoff mobility like these to keep me going.

Whilst I'm not amazingly strong at them, I have put my share of reps in so my technique is pretty dialed in and my shoulders are comfortable moving through the ROM, so its not necessarily going to be the same jumping from 0 to 100 reps overnight

Edit;

This reply got beyond the scope of the thread, but the principle stands for Xiaopengs. Remember that if they are currently difficult for you, treat them more cautiously than if they were a strength exercises. 20kg overhead presses aren't going to break things in most people. 20kg dislocates potentially will.

Remember again, especially for beginners (as most of us are), more is not necessarily better. If your Xiaopengs are consistently improving, you have no guarantee that adding more will make it improve any faster. Patience is better than guts for mobiliy work

Jon Douglas said:

20kg 2x a week, 1x10 after F7 workout. Not fussed about increasing the weight any further, just go to my comfortable max (min) width for the day.  Unweighted, they're no problem for me to move through full ROM anytime during the day, no irritation or anything. I don't, generally, because I get more out of heavy infrequently, but when I'm busy and away from the weights I basically g2g low load- high payoff mobility like these to keep me going.

Whilst I'm not amazingly strong at them, I have put my share of reps in so my technique is pretty dialed in and my shoulders are comfortable moving through the ROM, so its not necessarily going to be the same jumping from 0 to 100 reps overnight 

Echoing Jon: you can and will hurt yourself on dislocates if you take on too much volume/intensity. I'm on my third week of resting my left shoulder because I was too enthusiastic about decreasing the width and ended up tweaking something. 

Jon Douglas said:

20kg 2x a week, 1x10 after F7 workout. Not fussed about increasing the weight any further, just go to my comfortable max (min) width for the day.  Unweighted, they're no problem for me to move through full ROM anytime during the day, no irritation or anything. I don't, generally, because I get more out of heavy infrequently, but when I'm busy and away from the weights I basically g2g low load- high payoff mobility like these to keep me going.

Whilst I'm not amazingly strong at them, I have put my share of reps in so my technique is pretty dialed in and my shoulders are comfortable moving through the ROM, so its not necessarily going to be the same jumping from 0 to 100 reps overnight

 

Edit;

This reply got beyond the scope of the thread, but the principle stands for Xiaopengs. Remember that if they are currently difficult for you, treat them more cautiously than if they were a strength exercises. 20kg overhead presses aren't going to break things in most people. 20kg dislocates potentially will.

Remember again, especially for beginners (as most of us are), more is not necessarily better. If your Xiaopengs are consistently improving, you have no guarantee that adding more will make it improve any faster. Patience is better than guts for mobiliy work

Very well said, Jon.  

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer