Hard muscles vs soft muscles

[calfzilla]

I did an internet search on this topic and found quite a few threads about it. Basically I was wondering what is the difference between muscles that look soft vs hard (on a comparable sized body and body fat %). I found this article below that seems to explain it.

Basically it seems that to get a harder muscle you want to keep weight heavier in the 8 and below rep range. Just wanted to see if getbiggers had any input or opinions.

http://www.fitnessandpower.com/training/bodybuilding-misc/how-to-train-for-dense-hard-muscles-vs-soft-big-muscles

[oldtimer1]

Look at the muscles of Olympic lifters and Power lifters. It looks hard and dense. Too many bodybuilders have soft bloated muscles. Guys like Yates and Coleman look hard and they trained heavy.  That's my bro science statement.

[sceagacros]

I used to be a triple addict - 8x3 and 10x3 was the meat and potato set/rep scheme of my workouts when I lifted with a strength focus. My muscles were very hard 24/7, unfortunately I ruined it looks wise by being a perma-bulker at the time. My then wife was always accusing me of making a muscle during massages when I wasn't - I think they call it "tonus" , but it's very real. When I switched to more bodybuilding focused lifting with reps mostly 8 and above, it (the hardness) wasn't anywhere near as pronounced although some of my musculature was definitely larger (Biceps, side delts, upper chest, lats).