DOTS Calculator

Enter your body weight and your three lifts, or just your total. Get your DOTS points and your Wilks score.

Sex

Unit

Body weight

Squat

Bench press

Deadlift

Total (fills in from the lifts, or type your own)

DOTS score

Wilks score
Total in kg

By the One Rep Max Calculator team · Formulas checked against NSCA and peer reviewed strength studies · Math covered by unit tests · Last updated October 24, 2026 · Our method

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.

How is a DOTS score calculated?

DOTS divides your total by a curve based on your body weight, then multiplies by 500. The curve is a fourth power formula with set numbers for men and women. A 90 kg man with a 600 kg total scores about 388 DOTS points. The tool does the math in kilograms.

DOTS = total x 500 / (A x bw⁴ + B x bw³ + C x bw² + D x bw + E)

Number	Men	Women
A	minus 0.0000010930	minus 0.0000010706
B	0.0007391293	0.0005158568
C	minus 0.1918759221	minus 0.1126655495
D	24.0900756	13.6175032
E	minus 307.75076	minus 57.96288
Body weight range used	40 to 210 kg	40 to 150 kg

These numbers come from the open source code of OpenPowerlifting. Body weights outside the range are set to the nearest end of the range.

Worked examples

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

These two lifters lift very different totals, but their scores are close. That is the point of a body weight formula.

DOTS vs Wilks

The Wilks formula uses a fifth power curve. A 1999 study of world class lifters found no bias for the bench press or total. It did find a bias against heavier men and women in the deadlift (Vanderburgh and Batterham, 1999). A 2020 study used the OpenPowerlifting database with 26,472 lifters. Wilks could fairly compare 54.1% of weight class pairs, and the IPF formula 52% (Ferland and others, 2020).

DOTS is a newer curve with four numbers per sex. This page shows both, since many meets and rankings still list Wilks. The tool uses the original Wilks numbers from OpenPowerlifting.

Don't know your max yet?

Use the squat, bench and deadlift tools to estimate each lift from a set of reps. Add them up and enter the total here. Keep in mind an estimated total is not a meet total.

More tools

Related guides

FAQ

What is a DOTS score?

DOTS is a points score that lets powerlifters of different body weights compare their totals. It divides your total by a curve based on body weight and sex, then scales it. A higher score means a stronger total for your size.

What is the difference between DOTS and Wilks?

Both turn a total into points by body weight. They use different curves. Wilks dates to the 1990s and was the standard for many years. DOTS is a newer curve, and OpenPowerlifting lists it next to each result. For most lifters, the two scores land close together.

Do I enter body weight in kg or lb?

Either. Pick the unit in the tool. The math runs in kilograms, as the formulas were built that way, so pounds are converted first using 1 lb = 0.45359237 kg.

Is Wilks fair to all body weights?

Not fully. A 1999 study of world class lifters found Wilks had no bias for the bench press or total, but a bias against heavier lifters in the deadlift. A 2020 study found it compared just over half of weight class pairs fairly.