Wilks vs DOTS vs IPF GL: Which Strength Score to Use

Quickstart

DOTS (a formula that scores lifting strength across body weights) is the score to watch when you want to compare yourself with lifters of other sizes. The International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) ranks its own meets in IPF GoodLift (GL) points instead, and Wilks now mostly serves for reading old records. All three turn one total into one number, and Kinoku computes all three from your logged lifts, with its five strength bands set on DOTS.

If you want the score without the app, the DOTS, IPF GL, and Wilks calculators run the same math in your browser.

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What each score measures

All three answer one question, which is how strong a total is for a lifter of this size and sex. Each one fits a curve to meet results and then reads a body weight bonus off that curve, so the curve is where they differ.

Wilks came first, in 1994, when Robert Wilks fitted one curve to the meet data of the day. He refit it in 2020, and that version is Wilks 2. The Wilks page covers both.

DOTS arrived in 2019, written by Tim Konertz for the German federation. The old Wilks curve read too kind at the heavy end and too harsh at the light end, and DOTS fixed most of that. Most federations outside the IPF rank in DOTS now, and the DOTS page has the band table and the percentiles.

IPF GL is the federation’s own score, in use since 1 May 2020, and it splits the sport by event. Raw and equipped get their own curves, and so do the three-lift total and the bench-only meet. The IPF GL page has the coefficients.

Side by side

The three scores on one grid, from the year each one was fitted to the gap each one leaves.

The scores do not convert into each other, because each was fitted to its own pool of lifters, so there is no clean formula between them.

Which one Kinoku shows you, and where

Kinoku prints all three from the same lifts, and here is what the app does with each, as of September 2026.

1. DOTS uses the OpenPowerlifting coefficients with the 500 numerator. Body weight is clamped to the fitted range before scoring: 40 to 210 kg for men, 40 to 150 kg for women. The five strength bands in the app read off DOTS, with Novice starting at 200, Intermediate at 300, Advanced at 400, and Elite at 500.
2. IPF GL uses the 2020 raw classic rows, and the federation publishes rows for the three-lift total and the bench only. The app’s IPF GL card also shows a squat and a deadlift figure under the same heading, and those two are our estimates on the IPF curve shape rather than IPF scores.
3. Wilks 2 uses the 2020 coefficients with the 600 numerator. Body weight is clamped to 40 to 200.95 kg for men and 40 to 150.95 kg for women, which matches the OpenPowerlifting implementation. The app does not compute the 1994 version, though the web Wilks calculator does, for old records.
4. The percentiles next to your DOTS come from a reference file shipped inside the app, built from OpenPowerlifting raw classic totals, 2020 to 2024, in tested federations. The full tables are on the strength standards by body weight page.

Two limits are worth stating plainly. The app does not apply age factors, so a masters lifter reads the raw score only. And the reference group is people who enter meets, so any score ranks higher against gym lifters than the table says.

When to use which

Where you lift decides the score, and these are the four situations lifters run into most.

• If you compete in IPF meets, watch IPF GL, because it is the number that sets your ranking there.
• If you lift in another federation, or you do not compete, watch DOTS, which is the score most apps, spreadsheets, and federations mean when they say “coefficient”.
• If you are checking a record from before 2020, use the Wilks version that record was set in, since federation records from the 1990s to the mid-2010s are stored in Wilks 1 points.
• If your federation still posts Wilks, watch Wilks 2 alongside DOTS, which feel familiar side by side because they share a range.

Whichever you pick, read it against your own past scores first. A strength score is slow to move, so a couple of strong weeks barely register, and progress week by week shows up better in each lift on its own.

Track this in Kinoku

The Strength Standards feature works out DOTS, IPF GL, and Wilks 2 from your own training log, with the reference tables shipped in the app, and it is part of Pro Analytics. Your lift history and stats are on the free plan, and they are what the scores are read from.

The three web calculators are free and need no install. They share a test fixture with the app, so the coefficients on the site and in the app are held to the same reference values.

If you are choosing an app for powerlifting, our list of the best powerlifting apps for Android shows which ones put these scores inside the app and which keep them on the web.

References

Common questions

DOTS vs Wilks: which strength score is better?

DOTS (a formula that scores lifting strength across body weights) is the score to watch when you compare yourself with lifters of other sizes. The old 1994 Wilks curve read too kind at the heavy end and too harsh at the light end. DOTS fixed most of that, and most federations outside the IPF (International Powerlifting Federation) rank in it now.

Which strength score fits where I lift?

The right strength score depends on where you lift. IPF GL (the GoodLift points of the International Powerlifting Federation) sets your ranking at IPF meets. DOTS is the score most apps, spreadsheets and other federations mean by a coefficient. A record from before 2020 reads best in the Wilks version it was set in.

How do Wilks 2, DOTS and IPF GL differ in their math?

Wilks 2 puts 600 over a fifth-degree polynomial of body weight, and DOTS puts 500 over a fourth-degree one. IPF GL uses an exponential curve with 100 on top, and it runs from 50 to 100 while the other two run from 300 to 600. Each curve was fitted to its own pool of lifters, so no clean formula turns one score into another.

What is the blind spot of each strength score?

Each score leaves its own gap: the old Wilks curve is kind to heavy lifters, DOTS has no official bands, and IPF GL has no squat-only or deadlift-only row. The IPF publishes rows only for the three-lift total and the bench, each in raw and equipped versions.

Do strength scores show week-to-week progress?

A strength score such as DOTS, Wilks or IPF GL moves slowly, so a couple of strong weeks barely register in it. Progress from week to week shows up better in each lift on its own, and the score itself reads best against your own past scores.

Which strength scores does Kinoku show?

Kinoku prints DOTS, IPF GL and Wilks 2 from the same logged lifts in its Strength Standards feature, which is part of Pro Analytics. Its five strength bands read off DOTS. The squat and deadlift figures on its IPF GL card are our estimates on the IPF curve shape. The app does not compute the 1994 Wilks, but the free web Wilks calculator does, for old records.