Wilks Score Explained: What It Is and How It Compares to DOTS

By the One Rep Max Calculator team · Published October 24, 2026 · Facts checked against the sources listed below · About us

Safety note. These numbers are estimates for healthy adults. They are not medical advice. Max lifts carry real risk. Warm up, use a spotter or safety bars, and stop if you feel pain. If you have a health condition, an injury or are new to lifting, talk to a doctor or a certified coach first. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans suggest muscle strengthening at least 2 days a week.

A lifter on Reddit’s r/powerlifting asked what a good score looks like and how Wilks compares to DOTS. It is a common question at meets and online. A bigger lifter will almost always lift more. So how do you compare a 60 kg lifter with a 120 kg lifter? That is the job of the Wilks formula. This guide explains how it works, what research says about it, and how it stacks up against DOTS.

The short answer

Wilks turns your powerlifting total into points based on your body weight and sex. You multiply your total in kilograms by a Wilks coefficient. A 90 kg man with a 600 kg total scores about 383 points. The score lets lifters of all sizes be compared on one list.

Why body weight formulas exist

Strength goes up with size, but not in a straight line. A lifter who weighs twice as much does not lift twice as much. Weight classes help, but they only compare people within a class. To pick a best lifter across all classes, meets need a formula.

The Wilks formula has been one of the most used for this. Newer ones, like DOTS, were made to fix some of its quirks.

How Wilks points are calculated

The formula looks scary, but the idea is simple.

Take your body weight in kilograms. Call it x.
Plug x into a fifth power curve. The curve has six set numbers, one set for men and one for women.
Divide 500 by the result. That is your Wilks coefficient.
Multiply your total in kilograms by the coefficient.

The numbers in the curve come from the open source code of OpenPowerlifting (wilks.rs). The code also limits body weight to a set range. For men, it is 40 to 201.9 kg. For women, it is 26.51 to 154.53 kg.

You do not need to do this by hand. Our DOTS and Wilks calculator does all of it for you.

Worked examples

Here are a few real calculations from our tool.

Lifter	Body weight	Total	Wilks coefficient	Wilks
Man	100 kg	700 kg	0.6086	426.0
Man	90 kg	600 kg	0.6384	383.0
Woman	60 kg	350 kg	1.1149	390.2

Look at the second and third rows. The man lifts 250 kg more than the woman. But their scores are within about 7 points. That shows the formula doing its job.

How Wilks compares with DOTS

DOTS works the same way, but with a fourth power curve and newer numbers (dots.rs).

Lifter	Body weight	Total	Wilks	DOTS
Man	90 kg	600 kg	383.04	387.96
Woman	60 kg	350 kg	390.21	387.99

The scores land close together for these two. For most lifters, Wilks and DOTS give similar numbers. Small gaps show up at very light and very heavy body weights, where the curves differ more.

Is Wilks fair?

No formula is perfect. Two studies looked at how well Wilks does its job.

A 1999 study by Vanderburgh and Batterham used world record holders and top finishers from two world championships. It found no bias in Wilks for the bench press or the total. It did find a bias against heavier men and women in the deadlift. There was also a small bias in favor of middle weight women in the squat (Vanderburgh and Batterham, 1999). The authors said Wilks was a valid way to adjust the bench press and total.

A 2020 study by Ferland and others used the OpenPowerlifting database, with results from 26,472 lifters. It tested how well each formula could compare weight classes. Wilks could fairly compare 53 of 98 weight class pairs, or 54.1%. The IPF formula managed 52%. Raw totals managed only 3.1% (Ferland and others, 2020). The authors called for updated constants for both formulas.

So Wilks is useful, but it is not perfect. It works best for the total, which is how most meets use it.

What is a good Wilks result?

This is the Reddit question, and the honest answer is: it depends on who you are comparing with. There is no official chart of good, great and elite Wilks scores.

The best way to see where you stand is to look at real results. OpenPowerlifting lists meet results with points for each lifter. You can filter by sex, federation and equipment, then see where your score would land.

For most people, the more useful goal is to beat your own score. That way, even if your body weight changes, you can see if you are getting stronger for your size.

Using estimated maxes

You do not need a meet total to get a rough score. You can estimate each lift from a hard set of reps. Use our squat calculator, bench press max calculator and deadlift calculator. Add up the three estimates and enter the total.

Keep in mind that an estimate is not a meet total. Formulas tend to guess low on the deadlift. Read our guide on how to calculate 1RM for why.

Tips for tracking your score

Use kilograms if you can. The formulas were built that way. Our tool converts pounds if you need it.
Weigh yourself at the same time of day each time.
Track both formulas. If both go up, you know you are getting stronger for your size.
Remember that cutting weight and keeping your total the same will raise your score.

Bottom line

Wilks points let you compare totals across body weights. It multiplies your total by a coefficient based on your body weight and sex. Research shows it is fair for the total and bench press, with some bias in the deadlift. DOTS is a newer option that gives similar numbers for most lifters. Try both in our DOTS calculator, and use them to track your own progress.

Tools for this guide

FAQ

What is a Wilks score?

It is a points system that lets powerlifters of different body weights compare their totals. Your total is multiplied by a coefficient based on your body weight and sex. Higher points mean a stronger total for your size.

How do I calculate my Wilks points?

Multiply your total in kilograms by your Wilks coefficient. The coefficient is 500 divided by a fifth power curve of your body weight. For a 100 kg man, the coefficient is about 0.6086, so a 700 kg total scores about 426.

Is Wilks still used?

Yes, by many lifters and some meets, though many groups now also list DOTS or other formulas. OpenPowerlifting lists several scores, so you can compare yourself across systems.

What is the difference between Wilks and DOTS?

Both turn your total into points by body weight. Wilks uses a fifth power curve. DOTS uses a fourth power curve with newer numbers. For most lifters, the two scores are close.