Wilks score
The classic coefficient — and the 2020 refit that followed it.
Wilks score
The formula that defined the sport
For twenty years, "what's your Wilks?" was how powerlifters compared themselves across weight classes. Robert Wilks, then CEO of Powerlifting Australia, published the coefficient in 1994: a fifth-degree polynomial fitted to the competition data of the day, dividing a total into a single number that a 59 kg lifter and a 140 kg lifter could argue over on equal terms.
It worked, and then the sport outgrew it. Far more women started competing, the heavyweight ranks filled out, and the curve that fitted 1994's results fitted the new ones less and less well — particularly at the light and heavy extremes. Federations began looking for a replacement, and by 2020 nearly all of them had found one.
Wilks, Wilks2, and why the numbers jump
Wilks published a refit in 2020, usually called Wilks2 or Wilks 2020. It keeps the same fifth-degree shape but was fitted to modern data and normalised to 600 rather than 500.
That last detail matters more than it sounds. A Wilks2 score comes out roughly 20% higher than a Wilks score for the same lifter, so the two can never be compared directly. If someone quotes a score without saying which formula produced it, the number is close to meaningless. Both are shown above so you can see the gap for yourself.
Wilks = total × 500 / (a + b·bw + c·bw² + d·bw³ + e·bw⁴ + f·bw⁵) Wilks2 = total × 600 / (a + b·bw + c·bw² + d·bw³ + e·bw⁴ + f·bw⁵)
Same shape, different coefficients, different numerator. Bodyweight and total go in as kilograms; pounds are converted first. The fit is only meaningful between about 40 and 200 kg for men — outside that the polynomial turns over and the score starts climbing with bodyweight again, so this calculator clamps to the edge and tells you.
What replaced it
The IPF dropped Wilks for its own IPF Points in 2019, then replaced those a year later with IPF GL points, which remain its official formula. Almost everyone else went to DOTS — the USPA settles Best Lifter by it, and USA Powerlifting has used it for Open Best Lifter since 2022. Powerlifting Australia kept Wilks2.
None of which makes Wilks useless. Every result set before roughly 2020 was scored in Wilks, so it stays the honest way to measure yourself against the lifters you grew up watching.
Watch it move
Whichever formula you settle on, a single score is just one day's snapshot. What matters is the trend — whether the number climbs as you train. Log your squat, bench and deadlift in Bikkel and let the totals stack up over the months.
Related: estimate a one-rep max from a set you have actually done, or check your relative strength on a single lift.
Frequently asked
- What is the Wilks score?
- A relative-strength coefficient: it divides your powerlifting total by a fifth-degree polynomial in your bodyweight, so lifters of any size and either sex land on one comparable scale. Robert Wilks of Powerlifting Australia published it in 1994, and for the next two decades it was how nearly every meet in the world picked its Best Lifter.
- What is the difference between Wilks and Wilks2?
- Wilks2 is Robert Wilks’ own 2020 refit of his formula, using newer competition data. It keeps the same fifth-degree shape but is normalised to 600 instead of 500, so a Wilks2 score reads roughly 20% higher than the original for the same lifter. The two numbers are not interchangeable — never compare a Wilks score with a Wilks2 score.
- Is Wilks still used?
- Rarely, for official purposes. The IPF replaced Wilks with IPF Points in 2019 and then with IPF GL points in 2020. Most large non-IPF federations, including the USPA and USA Powerlifting, now settle Best Lifter by DOTS. Powerlifting Australia uses Wilks2. Wilks survives mostly as the number people already know, and as the historical record for results set before the switch.
- Why did federations move away from Wilks?
- The 1994 coefficients were fitted to the data available at the time, and as the sport grew — heavier lifters, far more women, far more meets — the curve fitted that data less and less well. The persistent complaint was its treatment of lifters at the extremes of bodyweight. In the IPF’s 2020 evaluation of scoring models, both DOTS and Wilks2 outperformed the original Wilks.
- Can I compare male and female Wilks scores?
- Yes. Men and women use different coefficients precisely so the resulting scores share one scale — that is what let a single overall Best Lifter award make sense.
- Which score should I actually use?
- Whichever your federation uses. If you compete in the IPF or one of its affiliates, IPF GL points are the ones that count. If you compete almost anywhere else, DOTS. Wilks is the right answer when you are comparing against a historical result that was itself scored in Wilks.