Has anyone ever heard of Parkinson’s law? Whether you have or haven’t you have likely felt its effects at one point in your life.
The law states that:
“Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
Before we dive into how this applies to your approach to training. Let me help you better understand it with a simple example. You are assigned a task with a 3 week deadline, you figure you have enough time to slowly chip away at it, and sure enough 3 weeks later the task is done. Now let’s say you were assigned the same task but only given 3 days to complete it. Parkinson’s law says the same task would get done to a similar quality to that of the 3 week assignment. The only difference being the amount of time given.
One of the biggest problems that I often see when it comes to training is not effort applied – It is time wasted. The good news is we apply this law to our advantage while training.
Train Fast, Train Focused: Leveraging Parkinson’s Law in Your Routine
One of the biggest challenges almost every athlete faces—whether you’ve been training for years or are just starting out—is juggling the constant busyness of life. Maybe work throws a curveball that sets you back, then you hit unexpected traffic on the way to the gym, and on top of that, you realize you’re behind on an important project. Before you know it, the day’s stress piles up, and suddenly skipping your training session feels like the easiest choice. It’s completely understandable—life gets hectic, and sometimes it feels like there just aren’t enough hours in the day.
But here’s the truth: whether you have three hours or just 30 minutes to train, there’s always a way to squeeze quality out of whatever time you’ve got. Short sessions don’t have to mean half-hearted effort; with focus and smart planning, they can be just as productive. On the flip side, if you do have the time, it’s crucial to respect it. Don’t let a set or rest period that should take 10 minutes stretch into 25 because distractions creep in or the clock isn’t running. Sticking to your schedule—not letting your training bleed into your day—is just as important as showing up in the first place.
Intentional Rest: Turning Recovery into Performance Fuel
Parkinson’s Law is likely most evident when we take time to rest. There is no doubt that rest is important; be it between sets, between training sessions, or even between phases of training. However, a problem arises when we forget how to rest efficiently. If we abbritarly assign an amount of recovery without structure, it can easily become 4, 5, even 6 minutes of wasted time. A quick check of the phone, a conversation with a friend, a trip to the water fountain—and suddenly you’ve doubled your rest time without even realizing it.
Additionally, Parkinson’s law can also teach us something about ourselves, it can expose where we are hiding. Are you taking a longer break because you are more fatigued? Or are you putting off your harder sets because they are more challenging. This law also helps expose weakpoints.
I encourage you to continue taking rest when needed, but do so with intention. Try to evaluate how much recovery is needed and use it to perform on what comes next, instead of an opportunity to get distracted.
Building Momentum: Own Your Offseason
The law does not only have to apply to the short term of training – it could affect an offseason and potentially impact performance of the season to come.
Let’s be general and say that an athlete has 16 weeks of offseason to prepare for the next season. Depending on how long and competitive their previous season was the athlete may need a week or so to rest and recover, fair. The mistake being made is when athletes do not capitalize on the opportunity to grow and progress when they are given the time to. What typically happens when offseason training does begin is a slow ramp up, maybe simply coasting to get a feel for how this offseason will play out since there is no urgency present.
We have to understand that if we want to get from point A to B, the road gets increasingly more difficult as time goes on. That’s why we break training into smaller chunks: smaller phases with specific goals, testing points, and feedback loops. By creating these mini-deadlines, athletes can be more motivated to push hard in the short term. It’s not just “I have 16 weeks until I need to be ready.” It’s “I have 3 weeks to hit this standard.”
Urgency plus direction equals progress.
Final Thoughts
Most athletes think they need more time to train better. In reality, they need less — and a hell of a lot more urgency. Parkinson’s Law exposes where athletes hide: in long rest periods, overextended warm-ups, and endless technical tinkering. But when you apply intentional time constraints, everything sharpens — movement, mindset, and output. You recover with purpose. You lift with precision. You train with intent. That’s the edge.