Kane Sumabat aka “Timberwolf” is a Controlled Labs sponsored athlete. At the age of 42, he has one of the most ripped and amazing bodies that I have yet seen in my time running this site, making his accomplishments all that more due to his long dedication to the sport of bodybuilding. Below is an interview I conducted with Kane in which he gives a little background story of himself, gives his diet and workout routine, and even offers advice to hardgainers trying to get bigger.

Scott Herman Interviews With Us

What was your life like before you began weight lifting and bodybuilding and what was the turning point that made you start lifting?

I started lifting when I was 12 or 13 years old, but I actually started taking it seriously, just after I turned 30. At the time, I was dealing with both depression and a bit of a drinking habit.

What was your life like after you began bodybuilding? What opportunities were given to you?

After I started training regularly, I actually weened myself off of prescription anti depressants and turned to St. John’s Wort. A year later, I was off of that, too. I definitely recommend exercise as an effective way to deal with depression. I also only drink a handful of times a year now and rarely enough to get inebriated. For awhile, I actually stopped drinking altogether.

Before 42 years old, has age slowed you down in terms of your physical goals?

Maybe I have more aches and pains here and there, but don’t think age has slowed me down at all. My age has in fact been extra motivation. I know I can’t take time for granted.

How did you get sponsored by Controlled Labs?

They had a thread on bodybuilding.com looking for a new spokesmodel. One of their reps brought my attention to it. As they say, the rest is history.

What keeps you going, following a diet, working out religiously? Not everyone has the dedication, but what keeps you personally going?

I’ve been training most of my life so its become second nature to me. Just like brushing my teeth and flossing. Can we omit the flossing part?  Actually if I trained as much as I flossed I would only be working out my calves every 4th day. Honestly, though, I love training. The dieting part I just take for granted as a necessity. Like using the toilet. I relish the process as well as the end result. Um… I’m referring to the training and dieting part, not using the toilet. LOL!

What is your routine and diet like?

Currently I train every day… often times twice per day. I hit legs 3 times per week and upper body pull and upper body push twice  each.

mon- legs
tue- upper body pull
wed- legs
thur- upper body push
fri- legs
sat- upper body pull
sun- upper body push

In the evenings, I’ll work out arms, abs and cardio. I try to also alternate going heavy on a given bodypart one workout, and doing volume/ hypertrophy on the other workout.

What are some tips you would give to a newbie skinny guy trying to get big?

Lift heavy and track your calories. I believe that 90% of the time, when so-called hard gainers can’t gain weight despite ‘eating tons of food,’ it’s because they overestimate their intake. Actually, make that 95.7% overestimate how much they eat . Along the same lines, 94.3% of people that fail to lose weight underestimate their intake. So for those hardgainers… try to consume 20 times your bodyweight in calories regularly with at least 1g of protein per lb bodyweight and go from there. And for now, 80% of your workouts should be just trying to lift heavier and getting stronger on a few key exercises. 20% of your workouts can be focused on time under tension, mind/ muscle connection and getting the pump. As you become more advanced, that 20% rises to 50% and even higher…  to where its reversed and more focus is on these so called ‘hypertrophy factors.’

What are some of your future plans?

Short term: Live in Barcelona part of the year and visit Rio one day. Long term: Stay in shape even in my 70′s and beyond and hope to continue training myself and others. Keeping my principle to continue working less than 20 hours per week.