Strength calculator
DOTS calculator
Score a powerlifting total against bodyweight with DOTS — the relative-strength formula most federations and online rankings run on. Free, instant, no sign-up.
The score tells you where you stand; the coach tells you which lift is holding it down.
What is a DOTS score?
DOTS turns a powerlifting total into one number you can compare across bodyweights. A 60 kg lifter and a 120 kg lifter will never move the same absolute weight, so ranking them by total alone is meaningless; DOTS multiplies each total by a coefficient fitted to bodyweight so both land on the same scale. A score around 300 is a solid intermediate lifter, 400 is competitive at a local meet, and 500-plus is national class.
How the DOTS formula works
DOTS — Dynamic Objective Team Scoring — was developed by Tim Konertz for the German federation (BVDK) and published in 2019 as a refit of Wilks against modern competition data. The score is 500 × total ÷ a fourth-order polynomial of your bodyweight in kilograms, with separate coefficient sets for men and women. The polynomial was fitted over 40–210 kg for men and 40–150 kg for women; bodyweights outside that range are clamped rather than extrapolated, which is what every reference implementation does.
DOTS vs Wilks vs IPF GL
The original 1994 Wilks formula punished heavier lifters and rewarded the lightest classes, an artefact of the record data it was fitted to three decades ago. DOTS was built to fix exactly that, and it is now the default in OpenPowerlifting rankings and at most non-IPF federations. The IPF and its national affiliates instead rank on IPF GL points, an exponential curve scaled so an all-time world best sits near 100. All three take the same input — best squat, best bench, best deadlift — and none of the numbers are interchangeable, so always say which formula you quoted.
Using your DOTS score
Treat it as a trend line, not a badge. Recalculate after every meet or mock meet: if your total climbs while bodyweight holds, the score moves and you genuinely got stronger rather than heavier. If the score stalls while the total creeps up, you are buying kilos on the bar with kilos on the scale — worth knowing before you chase a weight class. When it flatlines entirely, the answer is almost always the one lift that lags the other two.