DOTS Calculator — Wilks & IPF GL Points

Compare lifters across bodyweights with DOTS, Wilks and IPF GL points — using the official coefficients.

  • Strength
  • 2 cited sources
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Sex
Unit system

Your scores

445.4 DOTS

Wilks: 439.7 · IPF GL: 91.6

Official coefficients from the OpenPowerlifting codebase, regression-tested against real meet results. DOTS and Wilks are shown for a full-power total; the event and equipment settings apply to IPF GL points.

Methodology

All three scoring systems share one idea: multiply your total by a coefficient derived from bodyweight so different-sized lifters can be compared.

  • DOTS — total × 500 ÷ poly4(bodyweight), a fourth-degree polynomial fitted separately for men and women.
  • Wilks (original) — the same structure with a fifth-degree polynomial; the historical standard.
  • IPF GL points — total × 100 ÷ (A − B·e^(−C·bw)), with parameter sets per sex, event (full power or bench-only) and equipment (raw or equipped); the system used at IPF competitions.

Every coefficient is taken verbatim from the OpenPowerlifting codebase — the open-source project whose rankings the powerlifting world treats as canonical — and our DOTS implementation is regression-tested against OPL's own computed scores for eleven real meet entries.

Interpreting your result

As rough waypoints for raw full-power DOTS: 200–300 covers most recreational lifters, 300–450 is competitive club-to-national territory, 450–550 is national-to-international, and 600+ belongs to the sport's outliers. Wilks runs on a similar scale; IPF GL centres differently (100 GL ≈ a notional reference performance), so compare GL only with GL.

Scores are for comparing lifters at a moment in time — for tracking your own progress, your total in kilograms is the honest metric, since your score also moves with bodyweight.

Limitations

  • Formulas are fitted to competition populations; extremes of bodyweight sit on the least-supported parts of the curves (inputs are clamped to each formula's published range).
  • DOTS and Wilks here assume a full-power total; only IPF GL has bench-only parameters.
  • No formula fully removes the bodyweight debate — they are the accepted compromise, not a solved problem.

Sources

Pull the receipts — 2 cited sources

FitTools · sources

  1. 01 OpenPowerlifting coefficients (dots.rs, wilks.rs, goodlift.rs)
  2. 02 OpenPowerlifting — lifter database used for regression vectors

Every formula cited ✓

Frequently asked questions

What is a DOTS score?
DOTS scales your total by a bodyweight-based polynomial so lifters of different sizes can be compared. It has become the default ranking metric on OpenPowerlifting and at many raw meets.
What is a good DOTS score?
Roughly: 250–300 is a solid recreational lifter, 350–450 is competitive at local and national level, and 500+ is international class. The very best raw lifters in the world exceed 600.
DOTS, Wilks or IPF GL — which should I use?
Whichever your federation and friends use — they all answer the same question with different fitted curves. IPF competitions use GL points; most raw meets and OpenPowerlifting rankings use DOTS; Wilks is the historical standard.
Are these the official formulas?
Yes — the coefficients are taken verbatim from the OpenPowerlifting codebase and our implementation is regression-tested against OPL's own published scores for real meet entries.

Written and reviewed by Mathew Beale — MSc Biotechnology, University of Reading.

Last reviewed:

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