Wilks Coefficient - Example

Example

The main function of the Wilks formula is in weightlifting involved in Powerlifting contests. It is used to identify the best lifters across the different bodyweight categories and can also be used to compare men and women lifters as there are formulas for both genders. First, second and third places on the winner’s podium within their own age, bodyweight and gender classes are awarded to the competitors who lift the most weight respectively. Where two lifters in a class achieve the same combined total lifted weight the lighter lifter is determined the winner.

The Wilks formula comes into play when comparing and determining overall champions across the different categories. The formula can also be used in team and handicap competitions where the team includes lifters of significantly varying bodyweights. The Wilks formula like its predecessors, the O'Carroll and Schwartz formulas, were set up to address the imbalances whereby lighter lifters tend to have a greater power-to-weight ratio ... lighter lifters tending to lift more weight in relation to their own bodyweight. This occurs for a number of reasons relating to simple physics, the nature of the makeup and limitations of the human skeletal and muscular system and, the shorter leverages of smaller people. This phenomenon can be seen by looking at the current men's senior world powerlifting records. http://www.powerlifting-ipf.com/Records.44.0.html Note the totals section and that lighter lifters below 100 kg bodyweight achieve totals in excess of ten times bodyweight whereas heavier lifters do not. The Wilks system is primarily a handicapping process that provides an adjusted statistical method to compare all lifters of varying classes and groups on an equal standing and makes allowances for the disparities. Wilks charts and a calculator are freely available on the website of the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF). http://www.powerlifting-ipf.com/Downloads.55.0.html

According to this setup, a male athlete weighing 320 pounds and lifting a total of 1400 pounds would have a normalized lift weight of 353.0, and a lifter weighing 200 pounds and lifting a total of 1000 pounds would have a normalized lift weight of 288.4. Thus the 320 pound lifter would win this competition. As you might have noticed the lighter lifter is actually stronger for his bodyweight, with a total of 5 times his own weight, while the heavier lifter could only manage 4.375 times his own bodyweight. In this way, the Wilks Coefficient places a greater emphasis on absolute strength, rather than ranking lifters solely based on the relative strength of the lifter compared to bodyweight. This creates an even playing field between light and heavyweight lifters—the lighter lifters tend to have a higher relative strength level in comparison to the heavyweight lifters, who tend to have a greater amount of absolute strength.