Mobility Session

Is it a good idea to have a mobility session consisting of all the im's of a fundamental movement or two?

Necessary, no. Optional, sure. You can always add more but you don't necessarily need to. If you schedule your workouts properly you likely won't want to. I, though, perform a daily limbering routine soon after waking up (independent of my workout schedule and the day of the week, I try to do this daily).

 

So, considering the elements I have mastered (which you can see in my signature below), I incorporate:

- cat/cows (FL/PE1-im)

- german arm swings (HBP/PE1-im)

- latissimus leans (RC/PE1-im)

- hip circles (SL/PE1-im)

- trunk twists (SL/PE2-im)

- swivel hips (sPL/PE1-im)

- skier squats (SLS/PE1-im)

- twisting squats (SLS/PE2-im)

- insides squats (SLS/PE3-im)

- Single Arm Windmills (MN/PE1-im)

 

In addition to this routine, I do one set of scapular shrugs at 15 reps, one set of bHBR at max reps (somewhere between 36-60 reps), one minute of pullup bar hangs and one minute in as deep a squat as I can maintain (with as upright back and ankle flexion that I can muster). All of this takes  somewhere between 15-18 minutes. It's not too intensive, sometimes it gets a sweat going, sometimes not. But since I am still a beginner in many of the elements I feel that this limbering is sufficient as a warm-up so I usually forego doing one at the gym with my actual workout. Hope this provides you some clarity based on my subjective example.

I sometimes do mobility work on off days. Be careful not to overdo things though. sPL PE1 iM can be done almost infinitely but H1 PE 2 iM is way more taxing and should not be done on off days.

 

If you are in doubt of specific elements you can always drop a questions. General rule of thumb would be to skip the mobility elements which holds a larger strength component (like sPL PE 2+ iM, jefferson curls and xiao pengs) and include the mobility elements which holds a flexibility component (like swivel hips, hip circles and cat-crow). Of course, this has to be in relation to your current level of strength.