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DOTS Calculator
Enter your squat, bench and deadlift, or type your total straight in, along with your bodyweight. Your DOTS score is the pound-for-pound number that lets lifters of different sizes be compared. Wilks-2 and IPF GL are shown alongside it. Works in pounds or kilograms, no signup.
Total fills in automatically from your three lifts. Only know your total? Type it straight into the Total box. Editing a lift refreshes it.
What a DOTS score is
A raw total cannot fairly compare a 60 kg lifter with a 120 kg lifter, so powerlifting uses relative-strength coefficients. DOTS takes your total and your bodyweight and returns a single number where higher means stronger for your size.
Outside the IPF, DOTS is usually the default answer to "who is pound for pound stronger". It is the score most non-IPF federations and most online lifting communities reach for, and it is the one you will see quoted in gym conversation and on leaderboards.
How DOTS is calculated
DOTS multiplies your total by 500 and divides by a fifth-order polynomial of your bodyweight, with a separate coefficient set for men and women:
DOTS = 500 × total ÷ P(bodyweight)
The formula is defined on kilograms, so pounds are converted first (1 lb = 0.45359237 kg). Bodyweight is clamped before scoring, to 40–210 kg for men and 40–150 kg for women, because the polynomial is only fitted inside that range and starts behaving badly outside it. A lifter above the cap is scored at the cap.
What is a good DOTS score?
There is no official DOTS ranking table, so treat these as rough orientation rather than standards:
- Around 200 to 275. A lifter with some consistent training behind them.
- Around 300 to 375. A competitive local-meet total.
- Around 400 to 475. Strong at regional level.
- 500 and above. National and international class.
Bands overlap heavily by federation, division and era, and a score means much more tracked against your own history than against a table. If you want honest context for your own lifts instead, the strength standards calculator grades each lift separately.
DOTS, Wilks and IPF GL
All three answer the same question with different coefficient sets, so they rank lifters similarly but produce different point values. Never compare a DOTS to a Wilks. IPF GL is what the IPF scores with on the platform today, and Wilks-2 is the updated version of the long-standing classic. A fuller treatment is in strength scoring explained.
Common questions
What is a DOTS score? A coefficient that normalizes a powerlifting total across bodyweights so lifters of different sizes can be compared. Higher means more relative strength.
What is a good DOTS score? Very roughly, 300 is a competitive local total, 400 is strong regionally and 500 or above is national class. There is no official table and the bands overlap by federation and division.
Is DOTS better than Wilks? DOTS was fitted to more recent raw lifting data than the original Wilks, which is why many federations moved to it. Both are in active use, so the practical answer is to use whichever your federation scores with.
Does DOTS account for age? No. It adjusts for bodyweight and sex only.