I’m up early. My good friend Bill Campagna is having his annual Blues Bash this afternoon featuring the Tom Larsen Band.

I’m pitching in by barbecuing some of my famous beef brisket that I put on my PK Grill about 2 hours ago. It’s 5:25 AM as I write this. Should be ready around 3 PM or so.

But I’ve been thinking and I wanted to share it with you. It takes a lot of time to properly prepare good barbecue. You need patience and you need perseverance. It’s not like grilling a hamburger. First,  you may put a wet or dry rub on it. Or maybe you like marinade. There’s 24 hours there. Add some smoke; hickory in this case and a slow fire and we are talking 36 hours or so to get it ready to eat. There are no shortcuts. You aren’t allowed to use gas, and you certainly don’t even entertain the thought of an oven finish.

So what does this have to do with you getting stronger?

Almost everyone would admit to a desire to get stronger. But that aspiration and actual behavior are aligned very rarely.  Just as proper brisket requires time and patience, getting stronger…I mean really stronger….does not happen overnight.

Most people do not have the ability to stick to any behavior that will help them reach their goals for even a short period of time. They get distracted by some other shiny object and get sidetracked.

If Joe Sixpack lacks the ability to stick to the Primal Blueprint in order to lose just 10 pounds, then how would you expect him to stick to a program to build real strength. Real strength means you can deadlift 2 times bodyweight. That according to Dan John.

But it really doesn’t matter what the goal is. Maybe you want to be able to pass the Secret Service Snatch Test? Then you will need to do a lot of snatches. Seriously.

If you can do 100 snatches in 10 minutes then you are half way home. I suggest that the next goal would be 110. Then 120 and so on. Getting from 100 to 200 sounds tough. Not so much getting from 100 to 110. Short term goals are the stuff that long term ones are made of. Just don’t fall victim to quitting.

I train with kettlebells, bodyweight, and barbells. Everything I do every day is related to the goals I have. The Tactical Strength Challenge is what I use to gauge my progress. Deadlift, tactical pull ups and kettlebell snatch. My training relates to the actual movements. So I do a lot of those 3 things.

My long term goal is to deadlift  565 pounds. That is 3 times bodyweight. I have 9 short to medium term goals between that and where I am now.

The very idea of giving up on my training borders on the absurd. How could I give up? I don’t care if it takes me 10 years. I will GET 3 times bodyweight.

When you feel THAT way about your training, consistency, perseverance and tenacity become second nature … and at that point, your ultimate success is a foregone conclusion.

It just takes time; like smoke to meat. Now I’ve got a fire to check on.

Train with purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC