You can do. I have done it. I can run with an aspis, fence individually with it, punch with it. It can all be done, it’s just exhausting. But a 5th C. BC ekdromos was probably a lot more fit than I am.https://twitter.com/Verghast404/status/1262452292873117699 …
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So to be clear, I'm not suggesting the soldiering classes were actively malnourished, merely that they probably did not have the ultra-protein-heavy-diets that, for instance, many modern fitness nuts do. And on that basis, I think assuming pre-modern supermen is unwise.
We know, for instance, that the diets of Olympic athletes were unusual - ὄψα on ὄψα - from our literary evidence (it comes up in Xen. Mem. as I recall). That kind of diet - available to regular folk today - was the preserve of the elite then.
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A look at Roth (1999) on Roman military diets shows ample protein to avoid malnutrition, but nothing like the calculated ultra-heavy-protein diets of say, modern weight-lifters or body-builders.
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And that's my issue - the assumption where "oh, a modern, highly active, fit individual was unable to perform this feat of strength/endurance (or only barely so) - but Ancient Superman could have done" strikes me as unrealistic.
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