Alfred Pennyworth: My name is Alfred Pennyworth. I have been in the employ of the Wayne family nearly all my adult life. I have told this story to no one. Until now... Dr Thomas and Martha Wayne were good people. Many considered them the first family of Gotham city. If they had one indulgence, it would be for their son, Master Bruce. Something I have come to understand and emulate. I cannot imagine the man young Bruce might have become had his childhood not been ripped from him at gunpoint. Suddenly orphaned and alone, a chilling event took place. There would be no grieving for this child. No time would be lost wishing he could change these events. There would only be the promise. That very night, on the street stained with his mother and father's blood, he would make a vow to rid the city of the evil that had taken their lives. It was at best, a fool's errand, or so I told myself. Using his family's wealth, Master Bruce sought out the world's greatest minds in criminology, martial arts, and the craft of detecting. He knew that criminals are, by nature, a cowardly and superstitious lot. In turn, he donned a cape and cowl and became a creature of the night, preying on those who broke the law. They now call him The Batman. But, I will always see him as that little boy, lost, struggling to find a way to make up for not being able to save his parents lives. And I...? I can only offer him something I fear he sorely lacks. Love.Source — Batman: The Complete Hush.
Yeah. Even Batman's "prep time" can only carry him so far when he's on his own. His fights with Superman in Batman: Hush and The Dark Knight Returns are more than enough proof because he cheated in both fights.
In the former, he had a kryptonite ring and kept punching Clark, but even when using kryptonite, he had to stop punching Clark so that he doesn't shatter every bone in his hand from punching Clark, and had distract Clark by yelling at him about gas mines so that Clark doesn't fly or use his heat vision. Then he resorts to using hypersonics to give Clark a headache, which isn't enough. Then he had to resort to tricking Clark into flying into a flying into the gas mains and all that did was stun Clark for a while, so that Bruce run off and have time out, and once Clark recuperated, Bruce had to appeal to Clark's morals by getting Selina to use Lois as a damsel in distress to bait Clark. And what's even worse for Bruce is that even with all the tricks, distractions and external help he got from Selina, Clark was also multitasking in that he was trying to resist Poison Ivy's mind control, which Bruce assumed was why he still had a head attached to his shoulder.
In the latter, Bruce wasn't at full strength because he lost a lot of blood from being repeatedly stabbed by the Joker, but neither was Clark because he recently had a near death experience from a nuclear blast, and only managed to survive by absorbing sun energy from flowers. Bruce had to wear a special advanced batsuit to contend with a weakened Clark, and Clark still managed to damage that batsuit, break three of Bruce's ribs and Bruce needed Green Arrow to distract Clark by shooting a kryptonite arrow at Clark, who then stopped trying to fight because he could sense that Bruce was going to have a heart attack. Clark also wasn't even trying to kill Bruce. Granted, Bruce wasn't trying to kill Clark either, was restricted to fighting for a restricted amount of time, and faked his own death, but it was Clark inflicted more damage on Bruce than the reverse.
So yeah, even with prep time, Batman can't do shit without cheating.