Westside for non-competitive powerlifters

OK, we all know about the Westside template. A lot of us have tried it, and claimed great success off of it. But how many of us are actual powerlifters? How many of us actually have a need to hit 1RM lifts on a regular basis? I know the tendency is to let the ego take over and lift as much weight as possible, but really, what are we doing? Is it just so I can walk around and say I can bench press 400 pounds? When you tell the non-weightlifter that you can bench 400 pounds, I would bet they probably think you can do it more than once, that they assume it is the weight you regularly work out with. so really, is it necessary if we don't plan on competing?

When you dig deeper, most of us who use westside that aren't hard core powerlifters don't even do it right! The goal of westside is to get the big 3 up, up and up. But how many of us used the right template to accompish that? I think most non PLers have a bit of BBer in them regardless of what they say, so we just can't get rid of staple exercises that we love like lots of pullups, side laterals, dips, overhead presses, etc. The true westside template calls for assistance work specifically with the goal of improving the big 3. So your bench day might be ME bench press, then a triceps press like close grips for reps, then another tricep exercise and then some abs. Or, maybe a bunch of bench press reps, then a max, then some board presses, and maybe then some more benching. They don't do lots of pullups or chinups, some don't do much overhead work, and some do rowing, but not in proportion to the amount of horizontal pushing.

so we all do "westside" but we do it "wrong". What we are doing in effect, is basically an upper/lower split with a heavy day (ME) and a light day (DE). and we are doing it in a more BB angle, matching movement planes and whatnot. So if we do a ME press followed by 3 sets of rows, followed by chinups, followed by dips, followed by some curls, is that still "Westside" just because we use the 1RM?

Finally, I believe there are more efficient ways to gain "strength" than using the westside 1RMs. Yes, there is no better way to get your #s up than to use westside and the 1rm attempts, but that only works if you need to compete and have better numbers than someone else. To me, I feel like I get a better workout if I do something like a 3x3 for strength as opposed to the 1rm. I have attempted some pretty heavy lifts, I have a bench press max of 365 when I did my "westside" routine. But to be honest, I feel like I get a better response and workout by doing a 3x3 with say 320. I think doing 9 total attempts at this weight will do more for me long term than trying that one heavier rep. Would I not be better off in my day to day life by doing 3x3 or 9 total deadlift reps at a weight of 400 pounds as opposed to one gut straining rep at 500?

think about it next time you want to jump on the westside bandwagon if you are not a powerlifter