Free Tool
DOTS Calculator
Score your powerlifting total with the DOTS formula. Enter your bodyweight and your best squat, bench, and deadlift, and see how your strength compares across weight classes.
Your DOTS score
DOTS climbs when your total grows faster than your bodyweight. Re-check after each training block to see whether your work is paying off pound for pound.
Methodology: DOTS multiplies your total in kilograms by 500 and divides by a fourth-degree polynomial in bodyweight, with separate coefficient sets for men and women. Pounds convert at 1 kg = 2.20462 lb before scoring. The bands here are rough guides drawn from where competitive totals tend to cluster, and they shift with equipment division and federation. DOTS was built for full power totals in the squat, bench press, and deadlift, so single-lift scores carry less meaning.
What DOTS replaced
Wilks held the job for two decades, and nearly every meet best lifter award ran on it. Over time the results showed it favored certain bodyweights and scored the sexes inconsistently, so federations started looking for a fix.
DOTS arrived with a much larger modern dataset behind the curve and steadier behavior at very light and very heavy bodyweights. Most major federations now use it for best lifter awards, while Wilks survives mostly on old result sheets.
When pound for pound matters
A 500 kg total means something different at 60 kg than it does at 120 kg. Raw totals crown the biggest lifter. DOTS answers the harder question of who is strongest for their size, and that is the number that decides best lifter when champions from every class share the same room.
It also gives you a fair target against yourself. Track the score across a bulk or a cut and you learn whether the scale change is buying strength, because the score climbs only when your total outruns the penalty on the extra bodyweight.
FAQ
DOTS Questions
Common questions about pound-for-pound scoring
A single number that adjusts your powerlifting total for bodyweight and sex, so a lightweight and a heavyweight can be compared on equal footing. Your total in kilograms gets multiplied by 500 and divided by a polynomial built from your bodyweight. Higher means stronger pound for pound.
Under 300 you are around local meet level. From 300 to 350 you would be competitive at regional meets. Between 350 and 400 you are in national territory, and past 400 you are looking at elite company. These are rough guides, since the spread shifts with the equipment division and the federation.
Wilks was fit on older data and it showed. Certain bodyweights scored systematically high, and the men's and women's tables drifted out of alignment as women's lifting grew. DOTS refit the curve on a much larger modern dataset, which is why most federations moved over.
A lot. The formula penalizes extra bodyweight, so gaining weight only helps your score when the added muscle drives your total up faster than the penalty climbs. That makes DOTS the honest test of whether a bulk is paying off in strength.
The math runs, but the meaning thins out. DOTS was fit on three-lift powerlifting totals, so a bench-only score compares you against full totals and reads low. Use the one-rep max or percentage tools for single lifts and save DOTS for your total.
No. Gym lifts work fine as long as you are honest about squat depth and the bench pause. Treat the score as a way to track your own progress and to see how you stack up against lifters in other weight classes.
More free lifting tools
All free, all ungated, all built to work on your phone between sets.
1RM Calculator
Estimate your one-rep max
Barbell Plate Calculator
Plate math for any target weight
Weightlifting Percentage Chart
Every training load from your max
Warm-Up Calculator
A ramp to any working weight
RPE Calculator
Plan a set at any effort
Body Fat Calculator
Estimate body fat at home
Lean Body Mass Calculator
How much of you is muscle
Training Volume Calculator
Are you training enough to grow
Wilks Calculator
The classic pound-for-pound score
Ideal Body Weight Calculator
The classic formulas, with context
Personal Trainer Cost Calculator
What a human trainer really costs
Build a total worth scoring.
Forge programs your squat, bench, and deadlift around your current strength and adjusts the plan as your numbers climb.
- 7-day free trial
- $59.99/year
- Cancel anytime