I'm pretty new to the whole leangains and lifting thing. I have been hitting the gym between two and three times a week for the last couple of months on a fasted state taking BCAA's before and after, however, I am very confused about how many calories I should be eating.
I'm 22, around 6 foot, and the last time I weighed myself (at the start of this month), I was at 11st 6lbs, or 160 lbs. My goal is to get nicely defined lean muscle, along the lines of like this:
I guess I know it isn't possible for me to get exactly like that but its the direction I'd like to head.
Taking my weight, age and height into account, my maintenance should apparently be 2,425 according to calculator.net, but that seems really high to me. Then again, I have no idea what I'm talking about so it probably is correct! Should I be eating 2,675 on workout days, and then 2,175 on rest days - as well as trying to get in around 160g of protein? Despite all the research, I have done I still don't fully understand bulking/cutting. Is it the only way to make progress in the way I want? How long should I bulk for and how many calories should I eat during the process vs. when cutting?
Another question would be - I am doing 2 sets of 20 reps for each of my lifts at the moment in a full body workout. I will be switching to a split routine in the next week or so. Should I be upping the weight of each different lift and be doing 10 reps instead?
My current full body and the weights I use looks like this:
10 Minute Fitbit Ab Workout
Dumbbell Incline Bench Press - 2x20 / 7
Dumbbell Shoulder Press - 2x20 / 7
Side Raises - 2x20 / 3
Bicep Curls - 2x40 / 5
Barbell Curls - 2x20 / 2.5
Cable Cross - 2x20 / 5
Tricep Pushdowns - 2x20 / 10
One Armed Tricep Pushdowns - 2x20 / 2.5
Upper Back Machine - 2x20 / 10
Back Pulldowns - 2x20 / 20
Back Bend-Overs - 2x15
Leg Extensions - 4x10 / 10
Stationary Bike - 10 Minutes
It is also worth noting that I see a physiotherapist because I have extremely tight and painful leg muscles. He advised me not to do any leg stuff until things get better apart from Leg Extensions and biking as well as the stretches he gave me.
Sorry for these beginner, probably annoying, questions. Even reading the guide and side bar items has left me really confused and I would just like someone to tell me in particular specifically what I should be getting in because I get overwhelmed really easily. I'm really sorry if these are bad questions.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read and I am so sorry for being so useless in this kind of thing.