Originally Posted by
MikeC1
This is all covered in Practical Programming, and probably Starting Strength as well to a lesser extent. All trainees who undergo a legitimate strength program, regardless of training advancement, have to deal with stress and fatigue caused from workouts. Everyone lifts heavy, from novices to advanced trainees, and heavy lifting produces fatigue. Light days are designed to speed up recovery, they flush blood through the muscles, and about as important is they mitigate the effects of detraining and keep the body prepared for the next heavy day. Of course the weights have to be light enough to not produce additional fatigue, but there's always a weight light enough for this. In addition, light days provide for extra technique work, keeping the neural motor patterns sharp.