(so say the Chinese martial arts masters)
The Chinese are right, and it matters to understand exactly what they're right about. With age, a master grows stronger because he never broke the chain for forty years. The mechanism behind this principle is continuity.
The formula isn't "the older, the better" — it's: the longer without interruption, the better — and age doesn't stand in the way. The difference is enormous. The first version promises that time works for you on its own. The second says that only uninterrupted time does the work.