Powerlifting Total Calculator

Add up your squat, bench and deadlift, convert the total to pounds, and see your IPF GL points for your body weight.

What it does

Powerlifting has three lifts and one number that matters. The squat, the bench press and the deadlift are each judged on the day, and the best successful attempt in each is added together to give the total. That number decides the placing in a meet, and it is the first thing a coach and an athlete look at after the last attempt.

Totals alone are hard to compare across weight classes, which is where the federation scoring comes in. The International Powerlifting Federation replaced its 2018 formula with the IPF GL points in May 2020, after an evaluation by a team of specialists found the older system was not balanced across the weight classes. The federation asks every member nation to use the same calculator so that results from different meets can be compared, and the coefficients are published with the reasoning behind them.

The GL formula turns a total into points by dividing by an equalisation coefficient that depends on body weight. The federation's own document explains what that coefficient means: the points express how the performance compares with the performance of an elite lifter of the same body weight, and the value 100 is the average level of the elite sample at that weight. The coefficient falls as body weight rises, so a heavier lifter has to move more weight to earn the same score.

This page does the sum, converts between kilograms and pounds, gives the total as a multiple of body weight and applies the official IPF GL coefficients for the classic three lift in both the men's and the women's category. It uses the coefficients for raw or single ply lifting, which are the ones for standard competition lifting.

One thing to keep in mind is that the total depends on the rules of the meet. In a meet with three attempts per lift the best of the three counts. In a single lift meet only one attempt is allowed and the total is still the sum of the three lifts. Doping bans, equipment rules and weight classes all shape what a lifter can put on the bar, so the number always has to be read alongside the rules it was set under.

How to use

1. Choose metric or imperial units for the weights.
2. Pick the category, men or women, since the IPF GL coefficients differ.
3. Enter the body weight, which is the bodyweight on the day of the meet.
4. Enter the best successful squat, bench press and deadlift.
5. Read the total in your units, and the multiple of body weight for a quick comparison with other lifters.
6. Read the IPF GL points, which is the score the federation uses to rank lifters across weight classes.

Formula

Total

Sum of the best three lifts, in kilograms.

Bwt

Body weight of the lifter in kilograms.

A, B, C

Coefficients published by the International Powerlifting Federation for each category.

e

The base of the natural logarithm.

100

Normalisation factor, so 100 points is the elite average at that body weight.

The federation rounds the equalisation coefficient to six decimal places before multiplying by the total, and the score is then reported to three decimals. The formula covers raw and single ply lifting, and the same document explains that the coefficients come from a statistical regression over results of elite lifters, so they are adjusted from time to time. An older coefficient, Wilks, is still used by many federations and is covered on its own page.

Worked example

Reference table

Limits

• Only the classic three lift is covered. The federation also publishes coefficients for equipped lifting and for bench press alone, and those give different numbers.
• The formula assumes the body weight is the weight on the scale on the day of the meet, and a misweighed lifter gets a different score.
• The points say nothing about how the total was achieved, so a total with a missed attempt and one with all three lifts clean score the same.
• The coefficients are published for competition lifting and are updated from time to time, so a score from an older rule set may not match a current one.

Common mistakes

• Adding up the three attempts in a lift instead of taking the best one. Only the best successful attempt in each lift counts towards the total.
• Using the body weight from the weigh-in for a category that is decided later in the day, when the rule is to use the weight recorded in the morning.
• Reading the points as a strength level. They are a relative score that depends on the weight class, not a measure of how strong a lifter is.
• Forgetting that the same total in pounds and in kilograms is the same result, so the score does not change with the unit.
• Mixing the IPF GL points with the older Wilks coefficient and expecting the same number, because the two systems were built on different data.

Try it yourself

Quick checks. Answers sit tucked under each question.

Questions

Sources

• International Powerlifting Federation: the IPF GL coefficients for relative scoring
• International Powerlifting Federation: IPF GL formula information for member federations
• Kopayev, Onyshchenko and Stetsenko: evaluation of the Wilks, DOTS, IPF and GOODLIFT formulas

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