Wilks Calculator

A Wilks score converts your powerlifting total into a number you can compare across bodyweights. A 70 kg lifter and a 120 kg lifter post very different totals, and raw numbers say little about who is stronger for their size. The formula scales your total by a bodyweight-based coefficient so both lifters land on the same scale.

The original coefficients were published in the 1990s using the meet data available at the time. The IPF commissioned an update fit on modern competition results, and the 2020 version replaced the original because it treats extremely light and heavy bodyweights more fairly. This calculator shows both so you can compare against older posts and meet recaps.

Use the 2020 score for anything current. That is the version the IPF adopted. The original still floats around old forum threads and archived results, so it helps to know both numbers when you read them.

You can enter only a bench press or only a deadlift and the math will run. The score was designed around full power totals, though, and single-lift scores are harder to interpret because so few published comparisons exist.

Rough guides for the original formula put a typical gym lifter under 300, a competitive local lifter in the low 300s, and national-level lifters above 400. The 2020 version sits on a different scale, so compare within one version at a time. Drug testing, equipment, and age all shift what a good score looks like, so treat the bands as loose orientation.

Both convert a total into a pound-for-pound score. DOTS is newer, draws on a larger modern dataset, and many federations outside the IPF have adopted it. Our DOTS calculator runs the same inputs if you want both numbers.