Positive control checks are usually only essential after re-rigging, however you can get caught out.
I went to collect a Beagle Pup 150 after an undercarriage repair some years ago. The maintenance organisation insisted that tehy had not disturbed the flying controls but the fact was that the trim tab was badly misrigged. A quick circuit with a lot of forward stick pressure got me back on the ground.
Why should exercising the trim tab throughout its travel do any more harm than the "full and free" check that you do on the rest of the controls?
Mike