I actually think that pre-industrialisation and farming, hunter gatherers were extremly powerful and capable. FAR more capable than the average human today. There is evidence to suggest that they could run faster on average than all but the most elite runners today.
For instance.
http://metro.co.uk/2009/10/19/ancient-man-faster-than-usain-bolt-and-stronger-than-schwarzenegger-3421373/However, these are Ancient man, where they would need to hunt animals with minimal tools. Not those from the timeframe that many lineage founders lived. Secondly, my reasoning for viewing todays fighters as superior is not only based on physicality.
I certainly agree that many of the masters we hear of were 'outliers' and this speaks to why their systems often degraded after thier death, or why only one other person really got the good stuff when they died, it was more about that individuals genetics than the systems proficiency at producing fighters.
I have come to view the martial arts as a constant refinement down from a vaste array of specialisations. Unarmed fighting skill is always coloured by the timeframe it exists in. In the modern world where there are MMA gyms of every corner, Youtube teaching the world how to punch or fight, weight training facilities and a steroid epidemic you are more likely to meet a skilled fighter who is twice the size of the average peasant in ancient China than ever before.
I know people are anti MMA here, but the early modern 'no holds barred' events like the UFC really did show something to the world. It was an 'everyone come and try' moment, like the hailed 1928 tournement in China, all styles welcome. And what it showed was that many of the, once effective, specialisations were not applicable in a 1 on 1 encounter in the modern world. In a very short timeframe from that moment, the search for the most effective way to dissable someone has been going full bore and has been backed by the best science at fighters disposal. This has led to fighters with incredibale physical conditioning matched with incredible fighting skill. Now whenever even a mediocre MMA fighter beats the crap out of a TMA with NO RULES people still hold onto the idea that MMA is 'Just a sport'. There is more to that story.
But outside MMA, there is an emergant culture of RBSD and although that world is also saturated with prats teaching nonsense, there is also some extremely good stuff in that world. Then add in pressure tested weaponry work and you are living in a world with some of the most deadly fighters in history.
I
n essence i think today we have better martial artists for todays world. Could todays elite fight in a field against guys with spears on horseback? No. But could they handle almost any old time lineage master in a 1 on 1 encounter ... in my opinion absolutely.
Similarly i think if you put someone like Aleksandr Karelin in an ancient Olympian wrestling match he would ragdoll them ... although might not like them grabbing his junk.
To re-itterate, I dont actually think it makes any difference. I would not choose to study a traditional Chinese Martial art becasue it is the best platform to produce fighters. I would study it for every other great reason of which there are plenty.
cheers
Chris.