Lou Skunt

Great question Ransom. Make no mistake about it, anybody with a well developed physique is MUCH Stronger than the average person. Bodybuilding (high volume training) is a very safe and effective method to achieve overall strength and conditioning for the entire body. The thing I like the most is the fact that you are focusing your attention on every muscle group in the body, from multiple angles, which not only leads to balanced development, but builds tremendous muscular and connective tissue strength that will last you a lifetime

J.Nyx

You absolutely gain muscle and strength. As with any weightlifting program, if you go in and lift the same weight every week, you wont progress. In our case, say you go in and do bench presses @ 175lbs for 20 reps. The first time will be brutal. The next time a bit easier. The next time easier than that. Your physique will start to blow up, but then react less and less to the same stimuli. The beauty of bodybuilding is as you progress with weight on the bar, you have a real world metric to measure as well; your muscle development.

And just like everything else in life. Sometimes we fuck up. When that happens, just get back on the grind. #teamnoexcuses

WB Fitness

The idea that muscle aesthetics and strength are two totally separate things is a myth that has gained traction over the last few years. It is true that bodybuilders will pay a lot more attention to their diets and bodyfat percentage than powerlifters who are just going to eat all the fuel they need to make their massive lifts and that the focus on low carb diets leading to low body fat will reduce the overall amount of work you put in, this is not something that begins to make even a small difference until you are talking about the absolute elite of the sport. So yes, the sheer power of Eddie Hall when he broke the world deadlift record last year with a deadlift of 1,102.3 pounds cannot be touched by Phil Heath while Phil is cutting and doing contest prep. However, at any level under the absolute peak this difference is so negligible it can be ignored all together.

Strength is built by breaking down your muscles and having them rebuild themselves. This requires the muscle to be broken down by the lifting, the proper nutrition to feed the healing process and the proper rest to allow the muscles to repair the micro tears. The absolute best way to do this is to put a maximum load on the muscle without overloading it where it requires assistance from the joints or tendons and keep the tension on for as long as possible. That tension means not locking out your lifts and moving the weight for many, many repetitions.

Even Eddie Hall, world deadlift record holder mentioned above, when he trains to build the strength to deadlift over 1000 pounds does a workout that involves dozens of sets of 10 reps. Here is the video of Hall breaking the world record. While watching it remember that this is what he does in competition, in the gym he is doing volume. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Y4o_BqC0A

The idea that some strength is functional and other strength is not follows this bad thinking. All strength is function. So, the simple answer to your question is that volume training remains the single best way to build strength. How that strength looks on you has everything to do with your diet.