Free DOTS calculator

This DOTS calculator is a free powerlifting calculator. It turns your total into a score you can compare with lifters of any bodyweight. It also gives your Wilks, Wilks 2020 and IPF GL points, so you can see how the same total looks on each scale that federations use today.

A DOTS score is a total multiplied by a bodyweight coefficient. A heavier lifter usually lifts more in absolute terms, so the coefficient shrinks as bodyweight rises. That puts a 150 lb lifter and a 240 lb lifter on one scale.

How to use the DOTS calculator

Pick your sex category and units, then type your bodyweight and total. Scores appear as you type. There is no submit button.

1. Sex category. Every formula has separate curves for men and women.
2. Units. Choose lb or kg. If you switch units after typing, the numbers convert for you.
3. Event. “Full meet” means squat, bench press and deadlift. “Bench only” scores a single bench press.
4. Equipment. This only changes IPF GL points. Classic means raw (belt, knee sleeves and wrist wraps). Equipped means supportive suits and shirts.
5. Total or each lift. Enter one total, or enter your best squat, bench and deadlift and the tool adds them up.

The link in your address bar updates as you type. Copy it to save or share a result. Reset clears everything.

Use your best successful lift in each discipline, not an estimate. If you only have gym numbers from reps, find your one rep max first with the one rep max calculator, and treat the DOTS result as a training estimate.

What is a DOTS score?

A DOTS score is a relative strength number for powerlifting. It is your total in kilograms times a coefficient that depends on bodyweight and sex.

According to its author, Tim Konertz of the German federation BVDK, DOTS stands for Dynamic Objective Teamscoring System. He built it in 2019 as a successor to the Wilks formula. The German Wikipedia entry records that the BVDK adopted DOTS for team events from 2020, then decided to use it for individual competitions too. Swiss Powerlifting made the same move for 2020.

OpenPowerlifting’s documentation sums up the key difference in one line. Dots “is very similar to (and drop-in compatible with) the original Wilks formula,” but it “uses an updated, simpler polynomial and is built against data from drug-tested Raw lifters.” The original Wilks was built on drug-tested single-ply lifters.

In the United States, USA Powerlifting California’s calculations page states that USAPL and USPA use DOTS for the best lifter award for non-master lifters. For masters lifters, the same page says McCulloch age coefficients are applied.

How is DOTS calculated?

DOTS is 500 divided by a fourth-order polynomial of bodyweight, multiplied by your total. All values are in kilograms.

DOTS formula:

DOTS = total × 500 ÷ (A·bw⁴ + B·bw³ + C·bw² + D·bw + E)

The constants below come from the OpenPowerlifting source code (dots.rs). The German Wikipedia article on DOTS lists the same values.

Constant	Men	Women
A	−0.0000010930	−0.0000010706
B	0.0007391293	0.0005158568
C	−0.1918759221	−0.1126655495
D	24.0900756	13.6175032
E	−307.75076	−57.96288
Bodyweight range	40 to 210 kg	40 to 150 kg

If your bodyweight is outside the range, the formula uses the nearest limit. A 230 kg man is scored as if he weighed 210 kg. The calculator tells you when this happens.

Worked example: DOTS in pounds

Take a man who weighs 185 lb and totals 1,000 lb.

1. Convert to kilograms. 185 × 0.45359237 = 83.91 kg bodyweight. 1,000 × 0.45359237 = 453.59 kg total.
2. Work out the polynomial. With bw = 83.91: A·bw⁴ = −54.20, B·bw³ = 436.75, C·bw² = −1,351.12, D·bw = 2,021.51, E = −307.75. The sum is 745.19.
3. Find the coefficient. 500 ÷ 745.19 = 0.670973.
4. Multiply by the total. 0.670973 × 453.59 = 304.35.

His DOTS score is 304.35. The calculator shows the same number. The published examples in the German DOTS article check out too. A 74 kg man benching 100 kg scores 72.365, a 93 kg man benching 115 kg scores 73.169, and a 120 kg man benching 125 kg scores 71.788. The heaviest lifter moved the most weight but gets the lowest score.

DOTS score in lbs: why pounds must be converted

You cannot plug pounds straight into the formula. The curve was fitted to kilograms, so a pound bodyweight lands on the wrong part of it. Always convert both bodyweight and total first. The calculator does this for you when you pick lb.

What is a good DOTS score?

No federation publishes an official “good” DOTS score. DOTS only puts totals on one scale. It does not grade them.

The honest way to judge a score is to compare it with real results. The OpenPowerlifting rankings sort lifters by Dots by default. Filter by federation, sex, equipment and weight class to see where a number sits among recorded meets. That tells you far more than a label like “intermediate,” which no DOTS source defines.

The tables below show what common totals score at several bodyweights. They are computed with the same functions the calculator uses, not taken from any ranking.

DOTS score table for men

Bodyweight	800 lb total	1,000 lb total	1,200 lb total	1,400 lb total
150 lb (68.0 kg)	278	348	417	487
165 lb (74.8 kg)	261	326	391	456
180 lb (81.6 kg)	247	309	371	433
200 lb (90.7 kg)	234	292	351	409
220 lb (99.8 kg)	224	279	335	391
240 lb (108.9 kg)	216	270	324	378
275 lb (124.7 kg)	206	257	309	360

DOTS score for women

Women have their own DOTS curve, so a women’s total is scored against female data. Here are the same kinds of totals for women.

Bodyweight	400 lb total	550 lb total	700 lb total	850 lb total
115 lb (52.2 kg)	221	303	386	469
130 lb (59.0 kg)	203	280	356	432
145 lb (65.8 kg)	190	261	333	404
165 lb (74.8 kg)	177	243	310	376
185 lb (83.9 kg)	167	230	292	355
220 lb (99.8 kg)	155	213	271	329

Read across a row to see how much each 150 to 200 lb added to your total moves your score. Read down a column to see how the same total is worth less at a heavier bodyweight.

What is the Wilks score?

The Wilks score is the older relative strength formula that DOTS replaced in many federations. Robert Wilks, of Powerlifting Australia, wrote it. It uses a fifth-order polynomial.

Original Wilks formula:

Wilks = total × 500 ÷ (a + b·bw + c·bw² + d·bw³ + e·bw⁴ + f·bw⁵)

Constant	Men	Women
a	−216.0475144	594.31747775582
b	16.2606339	−27.23842536447
c	−0.002388645	0.82112226871
d	−0.00113732	−0.00930733913
e	0.00000701863	0.00004731582
f	−0.00000001291	−0.00000009054

These match both the OpenPowerlifting code and the Wikipedia article on the Wilks coefficient. OpenPowerlifting limits bodyweight to 40 to 201.9 kg for men and 26.51 to 154.53 kg for women, to keep the curve away from extreme values. The Wilks calculator in our tool uses the same limits. Its test file checks that a 100 kg man with a 1,000 kg total scores 608.589 and a 60 kg woman with a 500 kg total scores 557.443. The calculator returns both values.

How to calculate a Wilks score

Using the same 185 lb man with a 1,000 lb total, his Wilks is 300.83. His DOTS is 304.35. For mid-weight lifters the two scores are close. That is by design, since DOTS was built to be drop-in compatible.

Wilks 2020 formula

Wilks 2020, or Wilks2, is a rebalanced version Powerlifting Australia released on 28 February 2020. Powerlifting Australia said the update brought “Men and Womens performances better aligned and the extreme bodyweight classes brought into better balance with the middle bodyweight classes.”

Wilks 2020 = total × 600 ÷ (a + b·bw + c·bw² + d·bw³ + e·bw⁴ + f·bw⁵)

Constant	Men	Women
a	47.4617885411949	−125.425539779509
b	8.47206137941125	13.7121941940668
c	0.073694103462609	−0.0330725063103405
d	−0.00139583381094385	−0.0010504000506583
e	0.00000707665973070743	0.00000938773881462799
f	−0.0000000120804336482315	−0.000000023334613884954

The numerator is 600, not 500, so Wilks 2020 scores run about a fifth higher than the original. The 185 lb, 1,000 lb lifter scores 361.35. Do not compare a Wilks 2020 number with an original Wilks number. The calculator checks its Wilks 2020 coefficients against the published table values stored in OpenPowerlifting’s tests, such as 0.7294 for a 100 kg man and 1.2042 for a 70 kg woman.

DOTS vs Wilks: which should you use?

Use whichever score your federation uses. For your own tracking, DOTS is the more modern curve for raw lifting.

Here is one 500 kg (1,102 lb) men’s total scored at six bodyweights on every formula.

Bodyweight	DOTS	Wilks	Wilks 2020	IPF GL (classic)
60 kg (132 lb)	422.0	426.4	498.4	82.0
75 kg (165 lb)	358.7	356.3	426.3	72.9
90 kg (198 lb)	323.3	319.2	383.5	66.5
105 kg (231 lb)	301.5	298.8	357.3	61.7
120 kg (265 lb)	287.2	287.5	340.9	58.1
140 kg (309 lb)	274.0	279.4	327.3	54.5

And one 300 kg (661 lb) women’s total.

Bodyweight	DOTS	Wilks	Wilks 2020	IPF GL (classic)
52 kg (115 lb)	365.7	374.0	438.8	75.8
63 kg (139 lb)	322.7	322.2	383.6	65.6
76 kg (168 lb)	290.2	282.9	347.1	59.1
84 kg (185 lb)	276.0	267.5	333.2	56.7
100 kg (220 lb)	256.0	249.8	315.7	53.5
120 kg (265 lb)	240.7	239.9	302.7	51.4

Two patterns stand out. First, DOTS and the original Wilks agree closely in the middle weights. Second, they split at the edges. For heavy men, Wilks gives slightly more than DOTS. For mid and heavy women, DOTS gives more than Wilks. Wilks 2020 and IPF GL sit on their own scales, so compare the pattern down each column, not the raw numbers across.

What are IPF GL points?

IPF GL points are the International Powerlifting Federation’s official relative score. They show your result as a percentage of the average elite lifter at your bodyweight, for your sex, equipment and event.

The IPF says the formula took effect on 1 May 2020. GL stands for GOODLIFT, the IPF’s official scoring software, whose team proposed it. The IPF coefficients paper explains that 100 points is the “performance golden standard (average elite athlete’s level)” for each bodyweight. So 80 points means about 80 percent of that elite level.

IPF GL points formula

IPF GL coefficient = 100 ÷ (A − B × e^(−C × bw))

IPF GL points = coefficient × result (kg)

The IPF publishes eight sets of constants. The IPF GL calculator in our tool uses all eight.

Category	A	B	C
Men, equipped powerlifting	1236.25115	1449.21864	0.01644
Men, classic powerlifting	1199.72839	1025.18162	0.00921
Men, equipped bench press	381.22073	733.79378	0.02398
Men, classic bench press	320.98041	281.40258	0.01008
Women, equipped powerlifting	758.63878	949.31382	0.02435
Women, classic powerlifting	610.32796	1045.59282	0.03048
Women, equipped bench press	221.82209	357.00377	0.02937
Women, classic bench press	142.40398	442.52671	0.04724

The IPF defines the formula for bodyweights of 40 kg and up for men and 35 kg and up for women. It rounds the coefficient to six decimal places before multiplying. The calculator follows both rules.

IPF GL worked example

The IPF paper gives two examples, and the calculator matches both.

• Dmitry Inzarkin, men’s equipped powerlifting, 92.04 kg bodyweight, 1,035 kg total: coefficient 0.109039, 112.855 points.
• Susanna Törrönen, women’s classic bench press, 70.50 kg bodyweight, 122.5 kg bench: coefficient 0.790069, 96.783 points.

For our 185 lb man with a 1,000 lb classic total, the coefficient is 0.137664. That gives 62.44 IPF GL points, or about 62 percent of the elite average at his bodyweight.

Why scoring formulas changed: Wilks to Wilks 2020 to IPF GL

Each new formula tried to fix bias in the one before it. The short version: the IPF moved from Wilks to its own points, other federations moved to DOTS, and Powerlifting Australia updated Wilks.

• Wilks (1990s to 2018). The IPF used Wilks until the end of 2018, per the Wikipedia history and its sources. A 1999 study summarized there, by Vanderburgh and Batterham, found no bias for men’s or women’s bench press and total. It did find a bias against heavier lifters in the deadlift.
• IPF Points (2019 to April 2020). OpenPowerlifting’s documentation records the IPF’s first in-house formula, used from 1 January 2019 to 30 April 2020.
• DOTS (2019 onward). Built by Tim Konertz on raw, drug-tested data, then adopted by the BVDK, Swiss Powerlifting and, per USAPL California, USAPL and USPA.
• Wilks 2020 (February 2020). Powerlifting Australia’s rebalance of the original.
• IPF GL (May 2020 onward). The IPF’s replacement for IPF Points. Its paper says the constants should be reviewed on a four-year cycle. The coefficients PDF is dated for use from 1 May 2020 to 31 December 2023. The IPF formula page still lists the 2020 version as the current one, and we found no published newer set.

Because of this history, old meet results may carry a Wilks score, and newer ones a DOTS or GL score. OpenPowerlifting stores all of them, so you can compare like with like.

How to read your result

Treat your score as a way to track yourself over time and compare within the same rules. It is not a strength grade.

• Track progress. If you cut or gain weight, your total alone can mislead. A steady DOTS score after a cut means you kept your strength relative to bodyweight.
• Pick a weight class. Compare your likely DOTS at two bodyweights. If a few pounds of loss barely moves your total, DOTS will show the gain.
• Compare within a category. Compare raw with raw, tested with tested, and meet with meet.
• Match the scale. A 60 on IPF GL and a 300 on DOTS can describe the same lift. Never mix scales.

Accuracy limits: who these formulas don’t fit

Every formula here is a curve fitted to a certain group of lifters. Outside that group, it is less fair.

• Equipment. DOTS and Wilks have no equipment setting. A single-ply total scores the same as a raw one, even though it is not the same feat. Only IPF GL has separate raw and equipped constants.
• Federations. Judging depth, drug testing and rules differ. A DOTS score from an untested gym lift is not comparable with a tested meet total.
• Bodyweight extremes. DOTS caps bodyweight at 40 to 210 kg for men and 40 to 150 kg for women. Beyond those limits the score stops changing with bodyweight.
• Age. None of these formulas adjust for age. Federations add separate age factors for teen and masters lifters.
• Single lifts. DOTS and Wilks were built for totals. Scoring one lift works for bench to bench comparisons, as in the German DOTS examples, but a bench score is not comparable with a total score. IPF GL has its own bench-only constants for this.
• Gym estimates. A total built from rep-max estimates carries the error of those estimates. The RPE calculator can help you judge how close a set was to a true max.

Common mistakes

Most wrong scores come from inputs, not the formula.

1. Mixing units. Typing kg into the lb field, or the reverse, gives a nonsense score.
2. Using a failed attempt. A total is the sum of your best successful squat, bench and deadlift.
3. Comparing different scales. Wilks 2020 runs higher than Wilks. IPF GL runs lower than both.
4. Using the wrong IPF GL category. Classic and equipped constants differ a lot, and so do full meet and bench only.
5. Weighing in at the wrong time. Use the bodyweight from the day of the lifts, not your weight months later.
6. Guessing your total. If a number was never lifted, the score is a guess dressed up as a result.

Metric lifters: kilograms, stone and plate math

All four formulas were built in kilograms, so metric lifters can enter numbers as they are. Meets load plates in kilograms, and many home gym plate sets now come in kilograms too.

If you track bodyweight in stone, multiply stone by 14 to get pounds, then pick lb. For example, 13 stone 3 lb is 185 lb, or 83.9 kg. Our barbell calculator works out which plates to load for a target weight in kg or lb, which helps when meet attempts are in kilograms and your plates are in pounds.

How DOTS connects to your home gym

A powerlifting total is only as honest as the setup you lift it on. If you train for a DOTS score at home, the key pieces are a rack, a bar, plates you trust and a floor that takes a dropped deadlift.

• Rack and safeties. Heavy squats and bench presses need a cage with spotter arms or safety straps. Compare options in our guide to the best power racks and learn setup in how to use a power rack for squats.
• Barbell. Meets load a standard 20 kg Olympic barbell, so training on one keeps your numbers comparable. Some lifters add a stiffer squat bar or a longer, whippier deadlift bar.
• Plates. Calibrated weight plates are made to tight weight tolerances, so a gym total you log is closer to the real load.
• Floor. A lifting platform spreads the load of heavy deadlifts and protects a garage slab.
• Belt. Many raw lifters use a belt for maximal squats and pulls. See our lifting belt guide.

Safety note

Testing a true one rep max is the riskiest set most lifters do. Only attempt maximal lifts with safeties set at the right height, or with trained spotters. Warm up fully, use collars on the bar, and stop if technique breaks down. If you have an injury or a health condition, get cleared by a qualified professional before heavy testing. A score on this page is never worth a lift you are not ready for.