Program Review: 5/3/1 Building the Monolith
After 6 grueling weeks, I have finished my run of Building the Monolith, so I thought that here would be a good place to discuss my experience with this program. First up, an outline of the program: What is Building the Monolith? Building the Monolith (BtM) is a 5/3/1 program that is exclusively featured on Jim Wendler's blog (as in, it is not found in any of the four 5/3/1 books). It contains three days per week of lifting, and each day is very much full-body. As the program is freely available to the public, I have no qualms with talking about the specific ins and outs of the program, as I would with something contained in one of the books. So, without further ado, a brief outline of each of the three lifting days. Day 1 Squat: 5x5/3/1 (i.e. working up in weight with sets of 5 reps, until you reach the maximum weight for that day, then performing 5 sets of 5 reps with that weight) Overhead Press: 5s PRO (i.e. 3 sets of 5 reps, each increasing in weight), followed b...