Building the Monolith (5/3/1)

What is Building the Monolith?

Building the Monolith is Jim Wendler’s six-week size block, written for the lifter who is respectable on paper and still does not look like he trains. It runs on the familiar 5/3/1 percentage framework, but the main lifts are not really the point here - they are the scaffolding for a very large amount of assistance work.

It is three days a week for six weeks, and it arrives with instructions about food that are as specific as the instructions about sets. If you already run 5/3/1, treat this as a block you drop into your training year rather than a replacement for the system.

The six weeks

The main work is standard 5/3/1: percentages calculated off a Training Max set at 90% of your one-rep max, run through the usual three-week wave of 5s, 3s and 5/3/1 with an AMRAP on the top set. You run that wave twice - weeks 1 to 3, a small Training Max bump, then weeks 4 to 6 - and that is the whole main-lift story.

What sits on top of it is the actual program. The squatting includes high-rep supplemental work in the range of 5 sets of 10 to 20 reps, the widowmaker-flavoured sets that turn a squat day into something you have to plan your evening around. Three sessions a week is the cap, because the sessions are long and the rest days are load-bearing.

The 100-rep assistance

The signature instruction is a rep total rather than a set count: 100 reps of chin-ups, 100 of dips, 100 of face pulls or band pull-aparts, and 100 of curls, in as many sets as it takes you. Nobody does 100 chin-ups in five sets. You break them into tens, then fives, then threes, and you keep going until the number is done.

This is where the monolith comes from. The main lifts supply the strength framework; the assistance volume is what adds the upper-back, shoulder and arm mass that makes a lifter look like one. Skipping it because it feels like bodybuilding filler is the single most common way to run this program and get nothing out of it.

Eating for it

Wendler is blunt about the food, and the specifics have become part of the program’s reputation: a dozen eggs a day, a pound of ground beef, in roughly those terms. The point is not that those are magic foods. The point is that you are being told to eat like the session you just did was real, every day, for six weeks.

That makes Building the Monolith a bulking block and nothing else. Run it in a deficit and you get the fatigue without the growth - the assistance work stops recovering, the high-rep squats deteriorate, and you finish six weeks tired, lighter and no bigger. If you are cutting, these are the wrong six weeks.

How it differs from standard 5/3/1

If you have read our 5/3/1 guide, the machinery here will be familiar: the same Training Max, the same three-week wave, the same AMRAP top sets. The difference is emphasis. Base 5/3/1 is a system you can run for years on modest assistance, while Building the Monolith is a short, deliberately excessive block aimed squarely at adding bodyweight.

It also drops 5/3/1’s flexibility about assistance. There is no template to choose between and very little to customise - you do the six weeks as written, then return to normal programming with more muscle to work with.

Who it’s for

This is for an intermediate lifter who has already run 5/3/1 or something like it, is eating in a surplus, and wants size more than a peak. You need three days a week where you can be in the gym for a while, and a Training Max that is honest rather than flattering.

It is a poor fit for beginners, for anyone in a cut, and for lifters inside a meet prep - the fatigue from the high-rep squats and the assistance volume will not leave you sharp for singles. If your recovery is already stretched thin, run a normal 5/3/1 template with Boring But Big instead and come back to this when life is calmer.

Strengths & trade-offs

Strengths: it is short, unambiguous and effective at the one thing it was designed for. The 5/3/1 base keeps the heavy work submaximal and repeatable while the assistance volume does the growing, and six weeks is a commitment most people can actually see through.

Trade-offs: the sessions are long, the assistance work is tedious by design, and none of it makes sense outside a surplus. Strength on the main lifts moves slowly during the block, so if what you want is a peak, you are in the wrong program.

How to run it

Set your Training Maxes at 90% of a real, current max - lower if you are unsure - and enter them into the spreadsheet, which is set up for both kg and lb. Then treat the assistance rep totals as non-negotiable and the main-lift AMRAPs as strong but clean, never a grind.

When the 100-rep sets get slow, break them into smaller sets rather than cutting the total, and add food rather than subtracting work. Run the six weeks, take a deload, then go back to a normal 5/3/1 template and find out what the extra muscle is worth on the bar.

The spreadsheet

Browse the full program below, or open it in Google Sheets to make your own copy and plug in your numbers.

Spreadsheet via LiftVault. If the preview doesn’t load, use “Open in Google Sheets”.

Equipment

This is a barbell program - you don’t need much, but a few pieces make it run smoothly.

Lifting Belt

Gives your core something to brace against, adding stability and lower-back support on heavy squats and deadlifts.

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Wrist Wraps

Keep the wrist stacked under the bar on heavy bench and overhead pressing, so the joint doesn’t bend back under load.

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Knee Sleeves

Add warmth and a little support to the knees, plus a small rebound out of the bottom of the squat.

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Lifting Straps

Secure your grip so heavy pulling and deadlift volume isn’t cut short by your hands giving out first.

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Learn the lifts

New to any of the movements in this program? Our lift guides break down technique, cues and the common mistakes to avoid.