20 yr old, hitting plateau, 5x5?

[canesdiver7]

Hey guys
so heres the deal: i'm 20 years old, weight 163-167, height 5 foot 10. I was a platform diver for most of my life so i have always been leaner. however, in january 2011 i began to really want to put on weight and size. at that time i was 130lbs, now im 165ish. i am a hard gainer, but i worked my butt off this year. the last few months though, i haven't been progressing in size or strength. i was doing a very basic chest/shoulders/tris, back/bis, legs workout.

my goal here is to put on size and get bigger and more muscular. ive heard a lot about the 5x5 workout and i understand the basics. can anybody recommend a simple and effective 5x5 plan i can follow? also, how should i fit cardio and abs into it because i want to work on my abs. thanks

 

[shark blaster]

welcome to elite. so you were previously doing a 3 day split 2 days upper body 1 day legs? I can't advise you on how to split a 5x5, but maybe you would benefit from switching to full body 3x a week. you could do this 5x5 style I suppose for example, your powerlifts will all be 5x5 sets, then your auxiliary lifts will be 3x8:
monday:
bench 5x5
shoulder press 3x8
flies 3x8
front squat 5x5
step ups 3x8
leg curls 3x8
hang clean 5x5
pull ups 3x8-10 wide grip
finish with a 10 min ab circuit

do squats and RDL's on wednesday with incline dumbell bench shrugs, dips, i dunno, whatever!
edit: what do your lifts look like right now?

 

[raze]

Should post your diet up

 

[gymjunkie09]

Should post your diet up

yep, probably not eating enough....for a 5x5 google stronglifts 5x5 and start there

 

[zedhed]

^^^Exactly what he said^^^!
Strong Lifts 5x5 is an awsome program espicially for anyone that feel they are a hard gainer.
Check it out and think about it.
But you have to do the program exactly like it is written and you have to feed big time to get the benefit out of it.
Don let that scare you off tho. Just because your eating a ton does not necessarily equate with getting fat.
Post back and let us know your thoughts.
And good luck bro.