Wilks Score Calculator

Wilks Formula:

Wilks Score = Total (kg) × Coefficient

The Wilks coefficient is calculated from body weight using a 5th-degree polynomial:

Coefficient = 500 / (a + bx + cx² + dx³ + ex⁴ + fx⁵)

Where:

• x = your body weight in kilograms
• Total = the sum of your best squat, bench press, and deadlift in kilograms
• a, b, c, d, e, f = constants that differ for male and female lifters. These were determined by Robert Wilks through statistical analysis of competition results.

The polynomial in the denominator creates a curve that accounts for the natural relationship between body weight and strength. Heavier lifters can lift more in absolute terms, but the Wilks coefficient normalizes this so a lighter lifter’s relative strength can be fairly compared to a heavier lifter’s.

Practical Example: A male lifter weighing 82 kg (181 lbs) with lifts of: Squat: 180 kg, Bench: 120 kg, Deadlift: 220 kg Total: 520 kg The Wilks coefficient at 82 kg works out to 0.6724. Wilks = 520 × 0.6724 = 349.6 (Intermediate level)

Now a 60 kg lifter, where the coefficient is 0.8529. That lifter needs a total of only 410 kg to reach 349.7, effectively the same score off 110 kg less on the bar. That is the whole job of the coefficient. It is also why the lightweight and the heavyweight can swap places on a scoreboard while their totals are a hundred kilos apart.

What makes a good Wilks score?

These bands are the same ones used on the DOTS page, because the two scores land within a few points of each other for anyone between roughly 65 and 100 kg.

Where Wilks sits today. The International Powerlifting Federation dropped Wilks in 2019, but it did not switch to DOTS. It went to its own IPF Points, then to IPF GL Points in 2020, fitted separately for raw and equipped lifting. DOTS is a separate refit of the Wilks curve, built by Tim Konertz for the German federation and adopted by USA Powerlifting in 2020. So if you compete under the IPF your official coefficient is GL, and if you compete almost anywhere else it is probably DOTS. Wilks survives anyway, because thirty years of gym totals are recorded in it and lifters want to compare against their own history.

The formula has edges. The polynomial was fitted to real competition body weights and it means nothing outside them. Push the numbers far enough and the denominator turns negative, which would hand back a negative score. This calculator clamps body weight to 40-210 kg for men and 40-150 kg for women and says when it has done so.

Tips:

• Use competition-standard lifts. A paused bench and a below-parallel squat are usually 5 to 10% under gym numbers.
• Track the score, not the total, if your body weight is moving. That is the one job it does well.
• Both the body weight and the three lifts must be entered in the same unit. The unit selector covers all four boxes.