No one wins a championship in week one, but you can lose athletes there. Every August I see the same pattern: motivated players, rusty tissues, long practices, and conditioning tests pulled from a bygone era. The result is predictable. Hamstrings bark, groins tighten, and tendons complain. The hard work isn’t the problem. The timing and the dosage are. Underprepared athletes are not lazy by definition. Some of them might be. But others had limited access, some played a different sport, and a few are simply new to structured training. What they share is a capacity gap. The program asks for more than their current tissues, nervous system, and skill execution can provide. You can spot it quickly. Soreness lingers past 48 to 72 hours. Output drops across repeated sessions. Technique falls apart late in practice. Small strains and tendon flare-ups appear early. That isn’t “mental weakness.” It’s a mismatch between