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These are 3 mistakes I see injury-prone athletes make every pre-season.

The first is they never actually get fit.

Pre-season is the perfect time to build your aerobic fitness, yet so many athletes skip it.

The problem?

Aerobic fitness is strongly linked to availability. The fitter you are, the better you can recover, repeat efforts and handle the demands of training and games.

The second is they never address their actual problem areas.

For example, if your calves keep breaking down every season but you never do the work to improve their strength and capacity, don’t be surprised when the same injury comes back.

Previous injury is one of the biggest predictors of future injury.

Fix the problem instead of hoping it goes away.

The third is carrying excess body fat.

This one is often overlooked.

Every extra kilogram has to be accelerated, decelerated and carried around the field.

That extra weight adds up over the course of a game and can make every movement more demanding.

If you’re serious about staying injury-free this season, focus on getting fitter, addressing your weak links and getting your body composition under control.

If conditioning is something you struggle with, check out Resilient Engine in my bio. It’s my step-by-step guide to building the fitness needed to stay on the pitch all season.

These are the 3 biggest predictors of injury.

1. Injury history

The biggest predictor of a future injury is a previous injury.

Pick up a hamstring strain, calf tear or ankle injury and your risk of another injury goes up significantly.

Sometimes it’s the same injury.

Sometimes it’s somewhere completely different.

The risk keeps compounding if you don’t address the underlying problem.

2. Training load errors

Most athletes either do too much or too little.

Some try to grind hard every day and never recover.

Others suddenly double their training volume because they’re feeling motivated.

Both are a recipe for injury.

Your body needs progressive overload, not random overload.

Build gradually, recover properly and let your body adapt.

3. Being underprepared

This is the one I see most often.

Athletes jump into games, pre-season or a new level of competition without being physically prepared for the demands.

The game doesn’t care what you think you’re ready for.

It only cares what you’ve prepared for.

If you want to stay available, focus on fixing old injuries, managing your training load and preparing for the demands of your sport.

The athletes who stay injury-free aren’t always the most talented.

They’re usually the best prepared.

Follow .to.performance for more injury prevention and return-to-performance advice.

Most injury-prone athletes have a conditioning problem.

They’re strong.

They spend hours in the gym.

But they gas out halfway through games and training sessions.

That’s where the problems start.

As fatigue builds, movement quality drops, decision-making gets worse, and your body struggles to cope with the demands of the game.

That’s why conditioning is one of the biggest predictors of injury risk.

The good news?

It’s one of the easiest things to improve.

A few simple sessions each week can make a huge difference.

Some of my favourites are:

• 60s hard (5-6/10 effort), 30s easy x5 rounds

• 2-minute warm-up, 5-minute hard effort, 2-minute cool-down

• 10s hard, 50s easy x10 rounds

None of these need to be complicated.

You can tag them onto the end of a gym session and start building your aerobic fitness immediately.

The athletes who stay available aren’t always the strongest.

They’re often the ones who can recover, repeat efforts and handle the demands of the game.

If conditioning is something you struggle with, check out Resilient Engine in my bio.

It’s my step-by-step guide to building the fitness needed to stay on the pitch and spend less time injured.