84 reviews for 5/3/1 Building the Monolith
5/3/1 Building the Monolith (BtM) was created by Jim Wendler, world renowned powerlifter and coach. BtM is designed for advanced athletes with many years of consistent training under their belt.
To learn more about Jim's famous 5/3/1 training philosophy, be sure to check out his 5/3/1 Forever book, which collects all of Jim's thinking on 5/3/1 training methods. Go to www.jimwendler.com to learn more.
5/3/1 BBB is free on Boostcamp App. Also check out 5/3/1 for Beginners or 5/3/1 Boring But Big, which are also free on Boostcamp.
Read the full 5/3/1 program guide below.
Man, 37
3 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
More than expected strength gains
More than expected muscle gains
So good.
Peter Petersson
Man, 345 weeks complete
5 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Incredible hard and taxing program. Eating alot is a must. "Everybody wants to train like a champion, yet no one wants to eat like one." Jim recommends 12 eggs and 1,5lbs of meat a day. I tried it the first week, but couldn't handle it. I ate everything i came across and made sure i had atleast 220g+ of protein a day and a surplus of calories. Conditioning and mobility is key in this program. On off days i went for walks, swim (summertime thank god) or did some interval training to keep the work capacity high. Day one of each week was the longest, sometimes taking 1h45m, but other days i could finish between 60-90mins with supersetting. Back and rear delt gains were very good thanks to the massive amount of facepulls and pullups. Quads grew aswell, since all my pants are too tight now. Huge rep PR's on both squat and OHP. I recommend this program to everyone who not only wants to train their body, but also their mind. After Squatting 20 reps, you litarelly feel like nothing can harm you anymore. Ps. Have some spare money so you can get new clothes that fit you after the program
Trey C.
Man, 543 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
All of Wendler’s programs are boring and basic, but yield great results.
Markus V.
Man, 323 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
More than expected muscle gains
First three weeks done exactly as program suggested, weights were a little bit too light for my taste. As I adjusted weights (5kg on everything rather than max. 2,5kg on bench + over head press) training was feeling better. I absolutely loved the 100rep movements as well as amrap overhead press and widowmaker set at friday😍 The program is quite intense and workouts tend to get pretty long so I suggest doing this once in a while to break plateaus(?)👍🏼
JackedRN
Man, 513 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
50 year old trying 5/3/1 for first time. Not a bad program. Like the volume. Only changes were home gym type changes otherwise leave it intact.
Owen F.
Man, 385 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
More than expected muscle gains
Great
Erko Kiuru
Man, 383 weeks complete
2 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
More than expected muscle gains
Very good program
Chris S.
Man, 353 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Swap out face pulls
Stefan H.
Man3 weeks complete
6 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
More than expected muscle gains
Second run of Bram, swapped out bench for more overhead pressing, zercher's instead of regular squats and swapped one set of face pulls with rows. The volume and intensity on the accessories with this program is great to make some good improvement on both conditioning and muscle.
Jacob Lockwood
Man, 463 weeks complete
8 years of prior experience
As expected strength gains
As expected muscle gains
Great program absolutely recommend just keep grinding through and you'll see results