DOTS calculator
Enter your bodyweight and your powerlifting total, or your squat, bench press and deadlift, and the calculator gives your DOTS score. A 83 kg man with a 500 kg total scores 337.5 DOTS; a 63 kg woman with a 300 kg total scores 322.7.
Calculate your DOTS score
Leave reps blank for a single. For a set of 2 to 12, the lift's one rep max is estimated the way the one rep max calculator does it.
Enter your bodyweight and your best squat, bench press and deadlift.
DOTS compares lifters across bodyweights; it does not say how you rank. Add your age under "How does each lift rank?" to see where each lift sits among all adults your age and among NCAA Division I athletes, using the same percentiles as the full athleticism calculator. The strength calculator turns those lifts, plus pull-ups and grip, into a single strength percentile.
What is a DOTS score?
DOTS is a points system for powerlifting. It multiplies your total (best squat + best bench press + best deadlift) by a coefficient that depends on your sex and bodyweight, so lifters in different weight classes can be ranked on one list. Tim Konertz wrote it for the German federation (BVDK), which uses it for relative and team rankings, and OpenPowerlifting's open-source code computes it for its database. The name stands for "Dynamisch Objektives Teamwertungs-System".
How is DOTS calculated?
DOTS = total × 500 / (a·bw4 + b·bw3 + c·bw2 + d·bw + e), with bodyweight (bw) and total in kilograms.
| Coefficient | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| a | -0.000001093 | -0.0000010706 |
| b | 0.0007391293 | 0.0005158568 |
| c | -0.1918759221 | -0.1126655495 |
| d | 24.0900756 | 13.6175032 |
| e | -307.75076 | -57.96288 |
The formula is defined for bodyweights of 40 to 210 kg for men and 40 to 150 kg for women; outside those ranges the calculator shows no score. If you enter sets instead of singles, each lift's one rep max is estimated with the averaged Epley, Brzycki and Wathen formula from the one rep max calculator, and the score is marked as estimated.
DOTS score chart: total needed by bodyweight
The total needed to reach each DOTS score, rounded to the nearest kilogram and pound.
Men
| Bodyweight | 200 DOTS | 300 DOTS | 400 DOTS | 500 DOTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 kg (132 lb) | 237 kg (522 lb) | 355 kg (784 lb) | 474 kg (1045 lb) | 592 kg (1306 lb) |
| 70 kg (154 lb) | 266 kg (587 lb) | 399 kg (880 lb) | 533 kg (1174 lb) | 666 kg (1467 lb) |
| 80 kg (176 lb) | 290 kg (639 lb) | 435 kg (959 lb) | 580 kg (1279 lb) | 725 kg (1599 lb) |
| 90 kg (198 lb) | 309 kg (682 lb) | 464 kg (1023 lb) | 619 kg (1364 lb) | 773 kg (1705 lb) |
| 100 kg (220 lb) | 325 kg (716 lb) | 487 kg (1075 lb) | 650 kg (1433 lb) | 812 kg (1791 lb) |
| 110 kg (243 lb) | 338 kg (744 lb) | 507 kg (1117 lb) | 675 kg (1489 lb) | 844 kg (1861 lb) |
| 120 kg (265 lb) | 348 kg (768 lb) | 522 kg (1152 lb) | 696 kg (1536 lb) | 871 kg (1919 lb) |
| 140 kg (309 lb) | 365 kg (805 lb) | 547 kg (1207 lb) | 730 kg (1609 lb) | 912 kg (2011 lb) |
Women
| Bodyweight | 200 DOTS | 300 DOTS | 400 DOTS | 500 DOTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 kg (110 lb) | 160 kg (352 lb) | 239 kg (528 lb) | 319 kg (704 lb) | 399 kg (880 lb) |
| 60 kg (132 lb) | 180 kg (398 lb) | 271 kg (597 lb) | 361 kg (796 lb) | 451 kg (994 lb) |
| 70 kg (154 lb) | 198 kg (436 lb) | 297 kg (654 lb) | 396 kg (872 lb) | 494 kg (1090 lb) |
| 80 kg (176 lb) | 212 kg (468 lb) | 318 kg (702 lb) | 425 kg (936 lb) | 531 kg (1170 lb) |
| 90 kg (198 lb) | 224 kg (495 lb) | 337 kg (742 lb) | 449 kg (989 lb) | 561 kg (1236 lb) |
| 100 kg (220 lb) | 234 kg (517 lb) | 352 kg (775 lb) | 469 kg (1033 lb) | 586 kg (1292 lb) |
| 110 kg (243 lb) | 243 kg (535 lb) | 364 kg (802 lb) | 485 kg (1070 lb) | 607 kg (1337 lb) |
What is a good DOTS score?
Most DOTS figures you will see compare competitive powerlifters. This table compares against everyone instead: the DOTS score of an average-size adult (179 lb for men, 153 lb for women) whose squat, bench press and deadlift each sit at that percentile among all adults of the same sex and age, with the total in brackets. Being at the 90th percentile in all three lifts at once is rarer than 1 in 10, because the lifts are not perfectly correlated. Modeled — estimated from indirect evidence; treat every number here as an informed estimate, not a measurement.
Men
| Age | Median | 75th | 90th | 99th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18-29 | 184 (269 kg) | 229 (336 kg) | 280 (410 kg) | 389 (569 kg) |
| 30-39 | 178 (261 kg) | 222 (325 kg) | 272 (398 kg) | 377 (552 kg) |
| 40-49 | 167 (245 kg) | 209 (305 kg) | 255 (373 kg) | 354 (518 kg) |
Women
| Age | Median | 75th | 90th | 99th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18-29 | 151 (149 kg) | 185 (182 kg) | 225 (221 kg) | 326 (321 kg) |
| 30-39 | 146 (144 kg) | 179 (177 kg) | 218 (215 kg) | 316 (311 kg) |
| 40-49 | 136 (134 kg) | 166 (164 kg) | 202 (199 kg) | 293 (289 kg) |
Each lift has its own table by bodyweight: squat for your bodyweight, bench for your bodyweight and deadlift for your bodyweight.
DOTS vs Wilks
Both turn a total into points with a bodyweight polynomial. Wilks was the IPF's formula until the end of 2018 and was often criticised for favouring very heavy men. DOTS was built as its successor and the BVDK has used it since 2020. Scores from the two formulas are on different scales, so compare DOTS only with DOTS.
How this is calculated
The coefficients are copied from the OpenPowerlifting implementation and checked against the formula as published on German Wikipedia and against the independent wilks npm package: across bodyweights from 40 to 200 kg the scores agree to two decimal places. Per-lift percentiles use the site's strength reference distributions, adjusted for age and bodyweight, as the methodology describes. Automated tests check that the score matches the reference implementation and that every lift ranks exactly as it does in the main calculator.
DOTS questions
What is a DOTS score?
DOTS is a points formula that lets powerlifters of different bodyweights compare totals. Your total is multiplied by a coefficient that falls as bodyweight rises, so a lighter lifter gets more points per kilogram lifted. A 83 kg man with a 500 kg total scores 337.5; a 63 kg woman with a 300 kg total scores 322.7.
How is DOTS calculated?
DOTS = total × 500 / (a·bw⁴ + b·bw³ + c·bw² + d·bw + e), with bodyweight and total in kilograms and separate coefficients for men and women. It is defined for bodyweights of 40 to 210 kg for men and 40 to 150 kg for women.
What is a good DOTS score?
Against the whole adult population, not just powerlifters: an average-size man aged 18-29 (179 lb) whose squat, bench and deadlift all sit at the median scores about 184 DOTS, and about 280 at the 90th percentile in all three. For an average-size woman (153 lb) the figures are about 151 and 225. These come from modeled strength norms, so treat them as estimates.
Is DOTS better than Wilks?
DOTS was written by Tim Konertz of the German powerlifting federation (BVDK) as a successor to the Wilks formula, after the IPF stopped using Wilks at the end of 2018. The Wilks formula was often criticised for favouring very heavy men. Federations differ in which formula they use, so check your meet rules.
Can I use a set of reps instead of a max?
Yes. Enter the weight and reps for each lift and the calculator estimates each one rep max with the same formula as the one rep max calculator, then adds them. The result is labeled as estimated, because a meet DOTS score uses lifts actually completed.
DOTS covers three lifts. Get your overall athleticism rank across strength, power, agility and endurance.
Related
- One rep max calculator
- How much should I squat for my bodyweight?
- How much should I bench for my bodyweight?
- How much should I deadlift for my bodyweight?
- Back squat percentile calculator
- Bench press percentile calculator
- Deadlift percentile calculator
- Average bench press by age
- Average deadlift by age
- Average squat by age
- All standards, averages and calculators