Wilks, DOTS and IPF GL calculator
Score a powerlifting total or a single lift with Wilks, DOTS and IPF GL, so lifters of different bodyweights can be compared.
600 kg at 83 kg bodyweight.
Which one should I use?
- IPF GL if you compete in an IPF federation. It has been the IPF's official formula since May 2020, with separate curves for classic and equipped lifting and for bench-only meets.
- DOTS for most meets outside the IPF and for comparing with lifters anywhere. OpenPowerlifting ranks by DOTS by default.
- Wilks for older results and federations that still use it. It was the IPF's formula until the end of 2018. Wilks 2 is its 2020 revision on a different scale, so the two are never compared directly.
What relative-strength formulas do
Heavier lifters lift more, but not in proportion to their bodyweight: a 120 kg lifter does not total twice what a 60 kg lifter does. A points formula multiplies the weight lifted by a coefficient that shrinks as bodyweight rises, so lifters in different weight classes can be ranked on one list. Meets use them for best lifter awards and team scoring.
Why each formula was replaced or revised
- Wilks, by Robert Wilks of Powerlifting Australia, was the IPF's formula until the end of 2018. It was fitted to results from the late 1980s and early 1990s, before classic lifting and women's fields grew.
- The IPF replaced it with the IPF Formula in 2019, then with IPF GL from 1 May 2020, after an evaluation found the 2019 formula still was not fair across weight classes.
- DOTS was created in 2019 by Tim Konertz for the German federation BVDK, which needed a formula that ranks men and women together for team competitions.
- Wilks 2is Robert Wilks' own revision, released in February 2020 to bring men and women and the lightest and heaviest classes into better balance. It uses a 600-point scale, so it is not a drop-in replacement for the original.
The formulas
In each, x is bodyweight in kilograms. Points are the coefficient times the total (or bench).
- Wilks: 500 / (a + bx + cx² + dx³ + ex⁴ + fx⁵). Men: a = -216.0475144, b = 16.2606339, c = -0.002388645, d = -0.00113732, e = 0.00000701863, f = -0.00000001291. Women: a = 594.31747775582, b = -27.23842536447, c = 0.82112226871, d = -0.00930733913, e = 0.00004731582, f = -0.00000009054.
- Wilks 2:600 / (a + bx + cx² + dx³ + ex⁴ + fx⁵), with Powerlifting Australia's 2020 coefficients. Powerlifting Australia publishes them as tables; the polynomial used here matches every entry of those tables to the four decimals printed.
- DOTS: 500 / (a + bx + cx² + dx³ + ex⁴). Men: a = -307.75076, b = 24.0900756, c = -0.1918759221, d = 0.0007391293, e = -0.000001093. Women: a = -57.96288, b = 13.6175032, c = -0.1126655495, d = 0.0005158568, e = -0.0000010706.
- IPF GL:100 / (A - B × e^(-C × x)), with one set of A, B and C for each sex, equipment and event. Men's classic powerlifting, for example, is A = 1199.72839, B = 1025.18162, C = 0.00921. As the IPF specifies, the coefficient is rounded to six decimals before it is multiplied.
Sources
- IPF GL: International Powerlifting Federation, The IPF GL Coefficients for Relative Scoring (May 2020), Table 1, and the IPF GL Formula announcement. This calculator reproduces both worked examples in that document exactly.
- DOTS and Wilks: the reference implementation behind OpenPowerlifting's points. The BVDK has not published a DOTS document online, so OpenPowerlifting's code, which credits the formula's author, is the reference used here. Wilks' original coefficients also appear in the Wilks coefficient article.
- Wilks 2: Powerlifting Australia, Wilks Formula coefficient tables.
The calculator was checked against real meet results published by OpenPowerlifting (for example, Russel Orhii's 918 kg at 91.8 kg and Jessica Buettner's 580 kg at 75.4 kg) and matches their DOTS, Wilks and GL to two decimals.
Limits
- Each formula is only defined for a range of bodyweights. DOTS covers 40 to 210 kg for men and 40 to 150 kg for women; outside that, you are scored at the nearest edge. The original Wilks curve turns around at about 202 kg for men and 155 kg for women, so heavier lifters are scored at those points. IPF GL starts at 40 kg for men and 35 kg for women and has no upper limit.
- All of them are fitted to competitive lifters. For beginners, and at the lightest and heaviest bodyweights, they reward some lifters more than others.
- None of them account for age. Some federations add separate age coefficients for juniors and masters.
- Scores from different formulas are on different scales and should never be compared directly.
Questions
What is a good DOTS score?
There is no official scale, but as a rough guide from meet results: around 300 is a solid first meet, 400 is a strong competitive lifter, and 500 or more is national or international level. Elite classic lifters of both sexes score in the high 500s.
Why are my Wilks and DOTS so close?
Both are built on a 500-point scale and fitted to similar lifters, so for bodyweights in the middle of the range they land within a few percent of each other. They drift apart at very light and very heavy bodyweights, where the curves were fitted differently.
Why is my IPF GL score so much lower?
GL is on a different scale. 100 GL points means you matched the average elite IPF lifter at your bodyweight, sex, equipment and event, so most competitive lifters score below 100. Do not compare a GL number with a DOTS or Wilks number.
Can I compare men and women with these?
DOTS and the original Wilks were made so that men's and women's scores can be ranked together, and DOTS was created partly for mixed team scoring. IPF GL also uses separate curves per sex, but the IPF ranks men and women separately with it.
Does equipment matter?
Only for IPF GL, which has separate curves for classic (raw) and equipped lifting, because suits and shirts add a lot to a total. DOTS and Wilks score a raw and an equipped total the same way, so compare them only within one division.
Can I use this for a single lift?
IPF GL has official bench-only curves, so pick Bench only for a bench meet. DOTS and Wilks can score any lift, and OpenPowerlifting does this for bench meets, but the result only compares with other bench scores.