IPF GL Points Calculator (Goodlift)

IPF GL Points — GL for Goodlift — is the official scoring formula of the International Powerlifting Federation, in force since 1 May 2020. In the United States it governs Powerlifting America meets, the IPF’s US member federation. Enter your bodyweight, your three lifts and your division:

The official formula

IPF GL Points = total × 100 ÷ (A − B × e^(−C × Bwt))

Bwt is bodyweight in kilograms, e is the base of the natural logarithm, and A, B and C come from the IPF’s May 2020 coefficient table:

Division	A	B	C
Men, classic powerlifting	1199.72839	1025.18162	0.00921
Men, equipped powerlifting	1236.25115	1449.21864	0.01644
Women, classic powerlifting	610.32796	1045.59282	0.03048
Women, equipped powerlifting	758.63878	949.31382	0.02435

Worked example, an 80 kg man (176 lb) with a classic total of 400 kg (882 lb):

• e^(−0.00921 × 80) = 0.4786
• 1025.18162 × 0.4786 = 490.7
• 1199.72839 − 490.7 = 709.0
• 400 × 100 ÷ 709.0 = 56.4 GL points

That is the same 56.4 the calculator above prints for the same lifter, which is how you can tell a tool is running GL and not something else wearing the label.

What the scale is anchored to

This is the part that makes GL more readable than any of its competitors. The IPF fitted the coefficients to a “Golden Standard Sample” of elite results from official IPF and European competitions since 2011, and then chose the normalization factor deliberately: the average elite athlete’s performance at each bodyweight is set equal to 100 points.

So a GL score is a percentage. Fifty points means half the strength output of an average elite lifter your size; a world-class total lands above 100. That anchoring is the reason a GL number means the same thing at 59 kg and at 120 kg, and it is what the strength standards chart uses to put a total in context.

GL versus the 2019 formula it replaced

The distinction matters because the older formula is still in wide circulation under an “IPF” label, and the two produce numbers that look nothing alike for the same lifter.

• IPF Points (2019) modeled each bodyweight as a normal distribution: 500 + 100 × (total − mean) ÷ standard deviation, with mean and deviation each a linear function of the natural log of bodyweight. Average performance scored 500.
• IPF GL Points (2020) is the exponential equalization coefficient above, anchored on 100.

The IPF’s own document explains the naming: GL was added “to distinguish it from the previous IPF formula, which was used in 2019”, and credits the developers of the GOODLIFT scoring system. If a calculator hands you a three-digit “IPF” number near 500, it is running the retired formula.

Which scale applies to you

If you compete in the United States, the answer depends on the federation, not on preference. USA Powerlifting scores DOTS; Powerlifting America runs the IPF pathway and therefore GL. Neither uses Wilks, though most lifters still quote it — see the Wilks calculator for that scale and Wilks versus DOTS for how the curves differ across bodyweight. To assemble the total these formulas all start from, use the powerlifting total calculator.

This content is informational and does not replace coaching or the rules of your federation.