DOTS Calculator (and Wilks) for Powerlifting

A DOTS calculator scores your powerlifting total against your bodyweight, so a 150 lb lifter and a 250 lb lifter can be compared on one scale. Enter your squat, bench and deadlift total, your bodyweight and sex; the calculator returns your DOTS and your original Wilks score. For most lifters outside the IPF, DOTS is the fairer number.

How do you use the DOTS calculator?

Enter your best squat, bench press and deadlift (or your meet total), the bodyweight you lifted at, and your sex. Use lifts from the same day or block, because a total from three different bodyweights scores none of them correctly.

How is a DOTS score calculated?

DOTS is your total in kilograms × 500, divided by a fourth-degree polynomial of your bodyweight, with separate coefficients for men and women. Tim Konertz built it for the German federation, which adopted it in 2020 (DOTS background). The calculator uses OpenPowerlifting's published coefficients (OpenPowerlifting).

Example: an 83 kg (183 lb) man totalling 600 kg (1,323 lb) scores 405 DOTS and 400 Wilks. Wilks uses a fifth-degree polynomial; this calculator uses the original coefficients, not Wilks-2 (Wilks coefficient).

Is DOTS better than Wilks?

Yes for most lifters; IPF lifters should use the federation's own GL points. In the IPF's 2020 evaluation, scored so that lower is better, GL came first with 23 points, DOTS second with 44, then Wilks-2 at 50, original Wilks at 57 and the old IPF formula at 66 (IPF evaluation).

Wilks is not useless. Across 26,472 open lifters it compared 53 of 98 weight-class pairings fairly, slightly more than the IPF formula's 51 (Ferland et al., 2020). It just leaves too many classes advantaged or penalised to trust over DOTS.

What is a good DOTS score?

There are no official grades, so here are scores anchored to real totals. A 180 lb man at Strength Level's intermediate total scores about 275 DOTS; advanced is about 331 and elite about 389.

Totals come from self-reported lifts logged on Strength Level, a trained group rather than everyone who lifts (powerlifting standards); DOTS was calculated from them. So 300 is a serious score: about advanced for a 150 lb woman and between intermediate and advanced for a 180 lb man.

What if your total has stopped going up?

Then your score has stalled with it, and the cause is in your training or recovery, not the formula. Some slowing is expected: among 1,271 male powerlifters, the strongest improved about half as fast as the least strong (Latella et al., 2020).

Check each lift separately: a stuck total is usually one lift holding the other two back. A missing progression rule, too little heavy practice or a diet eating into recovery are the common causes. Find out what is capping your total.

FAQ

How do I calculate my DOTS score?

Convert your total and bodyweight to kilograms, plug them into the DOTS polynomial for your sex, and multiply the total by 500 divided by that result. The calculator does the arithmetic and shows Wilks alongside.

Is a 300 Wilks score good?

Yes. For a 180 lb man it sits between Strength Level's intermediate and advanced totals, and for a 150 lb woman close to advanced, which usually takes years of training.

Should I cut weight to raise my DOTS?

No. DOTS ranks lifters; it is not a training goal. A cut that costs strength lowers your total, and the bodyweight correction rarely makes up for it.

Why do DOTS and Wilks give different numbers?

They use different curves for how strength scales with bodyweight. For the same total they usually land within about 2% of each other, with the biggest gaps at the lightest and heaviest bodyweights.