Tavi Castro Sponsored Fitness Model
Tavi Castro 23 year old ex football player, natural fitness model and bodybuilder from The Netherlands shared with us his workout routine, diet, meal plan and more.
Quick stats:
Age: 23
Location: Rotterdam , the Netherlands
Height: 178cm
Weight: 86kg 5% BF
How did you get started with fitness, training and living the gym lifestyle?
I played Football my entire life. Growing up in Canada it didnt offer me many oppurtunities so I moved to Europe when I was 15. Throughout this time I was always in the gym and it really stuck. Eventually I left football for various personal reasons and started studying Aerospace engineering at the Technical University of Delft.
In that time I learned that you could compete without using drugs in the federation Musclemania. This intrigued me and after 4-5 years of hard training and dieting I did my first show.
Where does your motivation come from?
My motivation initially came from the left over frustrations of my football career ending prematurely. This pushed me to really have some emotional training sessions.
Now it comes from the successes both in the gym and out, of members I coach with Body Engineers. Helping others achieve what they thought they couldnt brings a quite incomparable satisfaction.
What’s your current training philosophy?
I combine classical bodybuilding principles and change it up with Central nervous system training (powerlifting) and endurance (high rep) .
What I usually do is follow my training for 6 weeks then trainin with CNS or High rep for 1-2 weeks. Heres an example of one standard week.
Tavi Castro Workout Routine
Monday – Legs
- Squat wide stance 3×8
- Squat narrow stance 3×8
- Stiff legged dead lift 4×8
- Leg press wide foot placement 3×8
- Leg press narrow foot placement 3×8
- Leg curl high rep drop sets 3xDrop set
- leg extension high rep drop sets 3xDrop set
Tuesday – Chest thickness, Biceps
- Flat barbell bench press 3×8
- Incline barbell bench press 3×8
- Dips 3xDrop set
- Flat dumbbell press 3×8
- Incline dumbbell press 3×8
- Straight barbell curls 3×12
- Heavy hammer curls 3×12
- Cable curls 3xDrop set
Wednesday – Back thickness , Traps,HIIT
- Deadlift 3×8
- Bent over barbell rows 3×8
- Bent over v bar rows 3×8
- Cable rows 3xDrop set
- Barbell shrug 4x 8
- Dumbbell shrug 4×8
Thursday – Shoulders,Triceps, Abs
- Military press 3×8
- Barbell up right rows 3×8
- Side raises 3xDrop set
- Rear pec deck 3xDrop set
- Skull crushers 3×12
- Cable tricep extension (infront of body) 3×12
- Over head cable tricep extension 3×12
- Kneeling cable crunches 3×12
- Standing cable crunches 3×12
- Weight leg raises 3×12
Friday – Chest width, Calves,HIIT
- Incline dumbbell flys 3×12
- Flat dumbbell flys 3×12
- Incline cable flys 3×12
- Pec deck 3×12
- Calf raises (straight leg) 3x[50 reps]
- Seated calf raises (bent leg for soleus) 3xDrop sets
Saturday – Back width, Abs
- Wide grip pull ups 3×12
- Wide grip pull downs 3×12
- Close grip pull downs 3×12
- Machine pull downs 3×12
- Crunches 3×30
- Ab rows 3×30
- Leg raises 3×30
What does your diet consist of?
My diet varies every day and by what phase im in (cutting or bulking ). I have learned that the most important principles to follow are to calculate your macros, and learn the glycemic index of carbs to time your insulin spikes accordingly.
I do this using a Meal planner Tool I developed myself and create dozens of versions of my days. All sticking to my Macros and insulin principles.
Heres what a day of cutting for me might look like.
Tavi Castro Meal / Diet Plan
Breakfast
- Protein Source: Medium whole egg
- Protein Source: Egg white
- Protein Source: Generic Whey isolate
- Carbohydrate Source: Oatmeal, cinnamon, stevia
Lunch
- Fat Source: Peanut butter organic
- Carbohydrate Source: Whole Grain Bread, Cacao
Dinner
- Protein Source: Tilapia Fillets
- Carbohydrate Source: Sweet potatoe
- Carbohydrate Source: Broccoli
- Carbohydrate Source: Spinache raw
- Fat source: Coconut oil
Pre Bedtime Meal
- Protein Source: Generic Casein protein
Pre Workout Meal
- Protein source: Chicken breast
- Carbohydrate Source: brown rice
- Carbohydrate Source: Broccoli
- Carbohydrate Source: Vegetables
- Fat Source: coconut oil
Post Workout Meal
- Protein Source: Generic Whey isolate
- Carbohydrate Source: Oatmeal
What would you eat on a typical day?
As mentioned before I really change it up based on my current phase.The important principles always being the Macros and timing of Carbs.
I tend to keep my protein sources lean and my carbs low glycemic as that gives you more control over your bodyfat percentage both during cutting and lean bulking.
Some examples:
- Protein: Chicken, White fish, Salmon, Eggs
- Carbs: Oatmeal, Brown rice, sweet potatoe, Quinoa
- Fats: Coconut oil, Peanut butter, Cacao
Do you stay lean all year round or do you bulk and cut?
Due to commitments with photoshoots, videos shoots, and appearances I need to stay lean all year.
What I do is cut down to 6-7% and then lean bulk to a bordline of 9% before doing minicuts to get back down.
This way you can still grow lslowly and maintain your condition.
Supplements?
Go to Body-Engineers.com to learn more about which supplements Tavi uses.
Breakfast:
- Fat Burner
- Multivitamin
- Omega 3 2gr
- Vitamin C 2gr
Lunch:
- Fat Burner
- Green Tea
- 5gr BCAA
Dinner:
- Green Tea
Pre bed time:
- ZMA
- GABA
Pre workout:
- Preworkou
- 5-10gr BCAA
- 5-10gr Creatine
- Tribulus terrestris
Post workout:
- 5gr pure BCAA
- 5gr Creatine
- Omega 3 2gr
- Vitamin C 2gr
If you had to pick only 3 exercises, what would they be and why?
Squat, Benchpress, Deadlift . They hit just bout everything! Also, your only as strong as your weakest link. So the large compound movements will slowly balance out your physique. For example, you will only benchpress as heavy as your triceps can support.
Three tips you’d give to someone who’s trying to reach their goal physique?
- Focus on your diet , it is 70% of the total Equation.
- Establish Goals, know what weight, bodyfat percentage, and timeframe you want to achieve this is. Set lifting goals aswell. Lifting the same means staying the same
- Find your motivation to get to the gym . A temporary source of motivation means a temporary attempt to your fitness goals.
Favourite Quote?
Burn before you Shine
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