Wilks Score Explained: How to Calculate Your Powerlifting Score and What's a Good Wilks

How do you compare a 60 kg woman who totals 350 kg in powerlifting to a 120 kg man who totals 700 kg? Both are impressive, but the comparison isn't trivial — strength scales sublinearly with body weight, so simple per-kilogram ratios distort the picture. The Wilks score, developed by Australian powerlifter and coach Robert Wilks in 1993, was the powerlifting world's answer to this problem and remains the most commonly cited strength comparison metric over 30 years later.

This guide covers the Wilks formula, what counts as a good score for men and women, the underlying physiology of why strength doesn't scale linearly with body weight, the IPF's 2020 switch to GL Points and how it differs from Wilks, worked examples for various lifter profiles, and the limitations of any single-number strength rating.

What Is the Wilks Score?

The Wilks score (or Wilks coefficient) is a number that represents your powerlifting total adjusted for body weight. It was developed by Robert Wilks in 1993 to replace earlier coefficient systems (like the Schwartz formula for men and Malone for women) that powerlifting federations had used since the 1970s but which produced inconsistent results between sexes.

Wilks fitted a fifth-degree polynomial to historical powerlifting data — separate fits for men and women — to capture how the maximum achievable total scales with body weight. Plug in any lifter's body weight, evaluate the polynomial, divide the lifter's total (in kg) by the result, multiply by 500, and you get the Wilks score. Higher = stronger relative to body weight.

The metric was officially adopted by the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) in 1995 and remained the international standard until 2020, when the IPF transitioned to the newer "GL Points" system. Wilks remains widely used in non-IPF federations (e.g. USPA, USAPL) and in online powerlifting communities for cross-event comparison.

The Wilks Formula

The mechanical structure is simple, but the coefficients are heavy.

Wilks Score = Total (kg) × 500 ÷ (a + b·BW + c·BW² + d·BW³ + e·BW⁴ + f·BW⁵)

Where BW is body weight in kg and the six coefficients differ by sex.

Male coefficients

Coefficient	Value
a	−216.0475144
b	16.2606339
c	−0.002388645
d	−0.00113732
e	7.01863 × 10⁻⁶
f	−1.291 × 10⁻⁸

Female coefficients

Coefficient	Value
a	594.31747775582
b	−27.23842536447
c	0.82112226871
d	−0.00930733913
e	4.731582 × 10⁻⁵
f	−9.054 × 10⁻⁸

You don't need to evaluate this by hand — every powerlifting calculator (including ours) does it for you. But understanding the structure helps you interpret what your score means.

Why Strength Scales Sublinearly with Body Weight

Without a Wilks-style adjustment, the strongest lifter would always be the heaviest one — every comparison would favour the biggest competitor. Empirically, this isn't quite true: the heaviest lifters can lift more in absolute kilos, but pound-for-pound (or kilo-for-kilo), the strongest powerlifters tend to sit in the middle weight classes.

The reason is geometric. Muscle force scales roughly with cross-sectional area (the square of a linear dimension), while body weight scales with volume (the cube). If you double a lifter's height, body weight increases by 2³ = 8, but muscle cross-section only increases by 2² = 4. So strength-to-weight ratio drops as size increases.

The Wilks polynomial captures this empirical relationship — derived from observed performance data rather than theoretical physiology — across a wide range of body weights. The result: a 70 kg lifter and a 110 kg lifter lifting the same Wilks score are doing equivalently impressive work despite very different absolute totals.

Worked Examples

Here are several lifter profiles, all with their Wilks scores calculated:

Lifter	Sex	BW (kg)	Squat	Bench	Deadlift	Total	Wilks	Tier
New lifter, year 1	M	80	120	80	140	340	~225	Intermediate
Recreational lifter, 3 yrs	M	85	180	120	220	520	~334	Advanced
Strong amateur, 5+ yrs	M	90	220	140	270	630	~393	Advanced
Elite-level competitor	M	83	270	175	305	750	~485	Elite
World-class	M	105	360	240	400	1000	~575	World-class
New female lifter	F	60	60	35	80	175	~187	Intermediate
Strong female amateur	F	65	130	70	160	360	~365	Elite
Elite female	F	72	180	110	210	500	~480	Elite

What's a Good Wilks Score?

Reference tier ranges for raw (unequipped) powerlifting:

Men

Tier	Wilks Range	Description
Untrained	< 100	Has not trained powerlifting consistently
Beginner	100–200	1–2 years of consistent training
Intermediate	200–300	3–5 years; some structured programming
Advanced	300–400	5+ years dedicated training; competitive at local meets
Elite	400–500	State / national level competitor
World-class	500+	International competitor, world record contender

Women

Tier	Wilks Range	Description
Untrained	< 75	Has not trained powerlifting consistently
Beginner	75–150	1–2 years of consistent training
Intermediate	150–225	3–5 years; some structured programming
Advanced	225–325	5+ years; competitive at local meets
Elite	325–425	State / national level
World-class	425+	International competitor

These tiers are raw (no supportive equipment beyond a belt). Equipped (single-ply or multi-ply) totals push these numbers significantly higher — bench shirts alone can add 50+ kg to a competition bench press.

Wilks vs IPF GL Points (2020)

In 2020, the IPF (International Powerlifting Federation) officially replaced the Wilks coefficient with a new system called IPF GL Points (sometimes "Goodlift" Points). The reasons:

1. The Wilks formula, fit in 1993, used powerlifting data that no longer represents modern competition. Lifters in 2020 are stronger across all weight classes, with the gains concentrated at certain body weights, distorting the original polynomial fit.
2. Wilks was perceived to favour middleweight men (75–93 kg) and disadvantage very heavy and very light lifters. Statistical analysis of IPF World Championship results showed systematic Wilks-rank bias by weight class.
3. The IPF wanted a sport-specific formula based exclusively on IPF competition data rather than on general powerlifting datasets.

GL Points uses an updated polynomial structure with coefficients fit to recent IPF World Championship results. For most lifters, Wilks and GL Points produce broadly similar tier rankings; in elite competition, the two systems can re-order lifters at the margins.

Practical guidance: if you compete in the IPF or its affiliates (USAPL, BPU, ÖSV), GL Points is the official score that matters. For everyone else — recreational lifters, USPA competitors, online comparisons — Wilks remains the most familiar and broadly understood number.

Historical Context

Powerlifting has used coefficient-based scoring since the sport's emergence in the 1960s. Major systems in chronological order:

• Schwartz formula (1970s, men) / Malone formula (1970s, women). Separate male and female coefficients but inconsistent calibration meant cross-sex comparison didn't work cleanly.
• Siff coefficient (1980s). Mathematical refinement; less widely adopted.
• Wilks coefficient (1993). Replaced Schwartz/Malone in IPF; became the de facto international standard.
• Glossbrenner coefficient (2007). An IPF-modified version of Wilks; saw limited adoption.
• IPF Points (2019). First IPF-specific data fit; superseded by GL Points within a year.
• IPF GL Points (2020). Current IPF standard; mathematical refinement of IPF Points.
• Wilks 2 (2020, unofficial). Robert Wilks himself proposed an updated polynomial fit as an alternative to GL Points; not widely adopted.

For a competing recreational powerlifter today, the choice of formula has small practical implications. Your training, technique, and total matter much more than which polynomial converts them into a single comparison number.

Related: Strength Comparison Beyond Wilks

Wilks is one of several ways to compare strength. Other useful metrics:

• Body weight ratio (kg lifted ÷ body weight). Simple but ignores sublinear scaling. Useful for single lifts (e.g. "bodyweight bench").
• One-rep max (1RM) for individual lifts. The fundamental input to all strength comparison. See our 1RM estimation guide.
• DOTS coefficient. A newer formula, used in some federations including IPL and WRPF. Conceptually similar to Wilks but with a different polynomial fit.
• FFMI for muscularity. Strength is what you can lift; FFMI is how much muscle you carry. Different but correlated. See our FFMI explained guide.

Limitations of Single-Number Strength Scores

Three honest caveats:

1. Wilks treats squat, bench, and deadlift as equivalent. A lifter with a great squat and weak bench can have the same Wilks as one with a great bench and weak squat. Tier classification doesn't capture lift-specific specialisation.

2. The polynomial is a population fit, not a personal calibration. Your individual body proportions, leverages, and sport history affect what's achievable in each lift. Two lifters at the same Wilks can have very different sport potential depending on their morphology.

3. Equipped vs raw distinction matters. Wilks doesn't distinguish between equipped (suit + bench shirt + wraps) and raw lifters. A 600 Wilks raw is far more impressive than a 600 Wilks equipped. Always cite which category your number applies to.

Wilks is best understood as a useful approximation for cross-lifter comparison and progress tracking, not a definitive ranking. If your Wilks goes up over time, you're getting stronger. If your Wilks is higher than your training partner's, you have a slightly better claim to "stronger pound-for-pound." Beyond that, single numbers can't capture all of strength.

Sources

1. Wilks, R. (1993). Powerlifting performance comparison formula. Original Wilks coefficients published in International Powerlifting Federation Handbook.
2. International Powerlifting Federation (2020). IPF GL Points — official scoring system. IPF Official Site
3. Vanderburgh, P.M., & Batterham, A.M. (1999). Validation of the Wilks powerlifting formula. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 31(12), 1869–1875. DOI: 10.1097/00005768-199912000-00027
4. Schwartz, R.L. (1971). The Schwartz formula. Internal scoring system used by various powerlifting federations 1970s–1990s.
5. Glossbrenner, H. (2007). Glossbrenner formula — IPF-adapted Wilks variant.
6. OpenPowerlifting Project. Comprehensive powerlifting performance database. openpowerlifting.org
7. Helms, E.R., Aragon, A.A., & Fitschen, P.J. (2014). Evidence-based recommendations for natural bodybuilding contest preparation: nutrition and supplementation. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 11, 20. DOI: 10.1186/1550-2783-11-20