As a beginner, you’ll get stronger doing pretty much anything. You certainly want to have some strength work in your program, but a well rounded program should address a variety of rep ranges, so you can get stronger, and bigger. There are plenty of guys in the gym who “focus on strength”, can lift a little heavier than me, and don’t look like they work out at all.
You don’t need to be in a caloric surplus to prevent burning muscle. If you’re training with weights, getting enough protein, you can keep all your muscle, even in a slight deficit. Eat maintenance calories, train hard, and let time do it’s thing.
Have all of those people competed as bodybuilders, or achieved incredible physiques, or have extensive personal experience and success in this area? Have any of them ever gotten shredded? I doubt it.
if you want bodybuilding advice, try the “search” function of T-Nation, there’s literally hundreds of articles. Here’s a good place to start. Read the top two first.
If you only did this program for a year, and ate maintenance calories, you’d get stronger, bigger, and have a completely different physique than you do now.