I largely agree with you, but in general more muscle => stronger so bodybuilder muscles are not strictly ornamentation. In fact it’s not uncommon for bodybuilders to become powerlifters and vice versa.
Also, an underappreciated role of muscle mass is as a giant store of emergency amino acids.
You generally train for the sport you’re participating in.
Stronger in the non-important (for the activity) parts of the body makes it harder to be stronger in the important parts. And also there are many ways to be strong, as in not all muscles are the same and also your neurological ability to control your muscles may also very widely .
Also powerlifters have much less impressive bodies than bodybuilders, and without pump and proper lighting you will generally might not even recognize that a person is top powerlifter.
I agree that strength is specific, but my point is that ‘bodybuilder muscle’ is not strictly ornamental.
Powerlifters have incredible muscle mass, they just aren’t picky about covering it with body fat because it doesn’t make sense for the sport. The main reason bodybuilders are weaker is that their caloric intake is much lesser (especially at meet prep when they sometimes are practically starving themselves to death).
That's true around competitions, but the main reason they aren't strong relative to powerlifters is because they don't train to express maximal strength.
They could easily add a few top sets of higher intensity work with low reps and get much stronger.
Well, yes. Practical use of muscles -> strong muscles -> looks good -> pumping-up of muscles just for the looks. But the muscles are still there, only excessive for the practical use.
OTOH weightlifting is still an activity performed for show, not practical tasks requiring strength. Equally, a Lamborghini is still a pretty nice car, and a Tissot watch is still a precise mechanical watch. But it's not the point.
By contrast, a police car does not look like a super-fast car, even though it's very fast. Equally, most Marines don't look like bodybuilders, even though their job requires exceptional athletic prowess.
Police cars aren't very fast. The days of building police cars with special engines are long past. Most US law enforcement agencies use regular Ford Explorer SUVs for patrol now.
Which is exactly the same engine that any consumer can buy in a regular Explorer ST available at their local Ford dealer. My uncle bought one to tow his boat. The police model is nothing special or particularly fast.
Also, an underappreciated role of muscle mass is as a giant store of emergency amino acids.