L.I.F.T. — Instructions & FAQ
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Complete Guide

Instructions & FAQ

Everything you need to run L.I.F.T. for meet prep, meet day, and everything in between. If you’re new, read sections 1–3 first. If you’re jumping in mid-meet, skip to section 13.

1 What L.I.F.T. is

L.I.F.T. stands for Leader In Forecasting Totals. It’s a web-based powerlifting competition tracking app built for three jobs:

  • Track every attempt — made, missed, or scratched — across squat, bench, and deadlift, for any number of athletes in a meet.
  • Score by DOTS in real time — the formula that ranks lifters across weight classes and sexes. Instantly see who’s leading the Best Lifter race as lifts are entered.
  • Forecast totals before they happen — enter projected attempts, see what the standings would be if everyone hit their numbers, and pick attempts accordingly.

It runs entirely in your browser. No install, no app store. Your data lives locally in your browser’s storage and can be exported to CSV.

💡 The core idea

Every coach at a meet is already doing DOTS math on a napkin between flights. L.I.F.T. does that math live, for every lifter, without the napkin.

2 Plans & pricing

Three tiers. Start free, upgrade when you need more.

Free (14-day trial)

No card required. Pick Athlete or Coach at signup.

  • Free Athlete: track 1 lifter (you). Leaderboard, attempts, DOTS all work. No projections, no data persistence, no export.
  • Free Coach: track up to 2 “my athletes” plus 3 competitors per projection. Leaderboard, DOTS, projections all work. No data persistence, no export.
  • Trial ends automatically after 14 days — app bounces you to a subscribe screen.

Athlete — $8/mo or $69/yr

  • 1 “my athlete” (you) + up to 5 competitors per projection
  • All features: save, load, export, import, Display Mode, projections

Coach — $19/mo or $159/yr

  • Unlimited athletes, unlimited “my athletes,” unlimited competitors
  • All features unlocked

Test access codes

If a beta tester or partner gave you a test code, enter it at the Sign In screen. Test codes unlock full Coach-tier access for a set expiry date.

3 Getting started

  1. Visit the site. From the landing page, click Start Free (for the 14-day trial) or Get Full Access (to go straight to a paid plan).
  2. Pick your role. Athlete if you compete; Coach if you manage other lifters. You can change your mind later by starting fresh.
  3. Fill in the signup form. Name and email required. Phone and address optional for free; required for paid plans (Stripe needs them).
  4. Confirm & enter. Review your details, then click Continue. Free users enter the app immediately. Paid users go to Stripe checkout first.
  5. After Stripe: you’ll be redirected back with your tier activated. An access code will be emailed separately — save it somewhere (password manager, notes app) so you can sign in on another device.
⚠ Free trial clock

The 14-day trial starts the moment you first click Start Free. Even if you don’t come back for a week, the clock runs. Subscribe before the 14th day if you want continuous access.

4 Athlete details

The Athlete Details section is where you enter everything about a lifter except their attempts. Open the Athlete Details section of the left panel.

Event info (shared across all lifters at the meet)

These three fields stay filled in between lifters — enter them once per meet:

Event Name
The meet’s name. Example: USPA Empire State Open.
Federation
Dropdown with 11 options (IPF, IPL, USAPL, Powerlifting America, USPA, WRPF, WPC, XPC, 100% Raw, RPS, Pro Raw).
State
Two-letter US state abbreviation.

Once filled in, these persist as you add each new lifter. They only clear when you click Reset form or Clear.

Lifter-specific info

Name
Required. As you type, the app auto-loads any matching saved lifter. Type an existing name to pull up their record.
Sex
Male or Female. Changes the weight-class options and the DOTS formula.
Age
Optional. Used for division filtering only (Junior/Master cutoffs are your call).
Bodyweight
Required. In whichever unit you’re currently in (toggle with the lb/kg button at the top).
Weight class
Populated based on Sex. Pick the closest class; L.I.F.T. uses this for grouping on Display Mode but NOT for DOTS (DOTS uses actual bodyweight).
Division
Open, Junior, Submaster, or Masters. Used for grouping on the leaderboard and Display Mode.
My Athlete(s)
Yes = this is someone you’re personally coaching (or yourself). No = this is a competitor or another lifter in the meet. “My athletes” get special treatment in the projection tool and rack heights.
💡 Name-based auto-load

If you type a name that matches a previously saved lifter, the form auto-fills their sex, age, bodyweight, weight class, division, rack heights, and every attempt. To save typing at a multi-meet season, set up each of your lifters once and reuse them.

5 Rack heights

The Rack Heights section only appears when My Athlete(s) is set to Yes. Three 2-digit fields:

Squat Rack
The rack pin number for squat setup.
Bench Bar
The rack pin number for the bench bar hooks.
Bench Safeties
The pin number for bench safety arms.

All three are optional. Numbers only, max 2 digits — the field rejects letters as you type. Rack heights save with the lifter and auto-fill when you look them up by name later.

💡 Why only my athletes?

Competitors use whatever rack heights they announce — they’re not your responsibility. Only your own lifters need their rack settings stored so you can walk up to the platform and set them without asking.

6 Entering attempts

The Attempts section has 9 rows total: 3 for squat, 3 for bench, 3 for deadlift. Each row has a weight input plus a Miss button and an S (scratch) button.

Made lift

Just enter the weight. Unit is controlled by the top-of-app toggle (lb or kg).

Missed lift

Enter the weight, then click Miss. The attempt counts against bomb-out but doesn’t add to the lifter’s total.

Scratched lift

Click S. The weight clears automatically — scratches don’t have a weight. Scratches don’t count for the total OR bomb-out.

⚠ Only enter successful weights

The weight you enter is the weight they made, not what they attempted. For a missed attempt, enter the weight they tried (so the Miss button has something to display), but the total math ignores it.

7 Miss vs Scratch — what’s the difference?

Both mean “this attempt wasn’t made,” but they matter differently:

Miss (red)

  • Lifter approached the bar and failed
  • Counts toward bomb-out (3 misses on the same lift = bombed, total invalid)
  • Weight is stored but not counted in the total

Scratch (yellow, shown as —)

  • Lifter declined to attempt — common after a lifter sets a PR and stops early
  • Does NOT count toward bomb-out
  • No weight stored — appears as a dash
Example

Lifter benches 350, 375 (missed), then declines attempt 3. Enter 350 and leave it alone. Enter 375 + click Miss. Click S on attempt 3. Their best bench is 350. They did not bomb out — they had one successful lift.

Cascading rule

Scratching an attempt does NOT auto-scratch later attempts. If you scratch squat 2, squat 3 stays pending. You decide what cascades — click scratch again on 3 if the lifter declined both.

8 Leaderboard

The right panel shows all lifters sorted by total (highest first, by default). Each row shows:

  • Rank badge — gold/silver/bronze colors for 1st/2nd/3rd
  • Name, Division, Age, Bodyweight
  • Total — sum of best squat + best bench + best deadlift
  • DOTS — the universal ranking score

Filters

  • Search — type part of a name to filter
  • Division filter — show only Open, Junior, Submaster, or Masters
  • Weight class filter — show only one weight class

Sorting

Click any column header to sort by that column. Click again to reverse. The default sort is by Total, descending.

Special row colors

  • Gold/yellow border — a “my athlete” (one you’re coaching)
  • Blue background — a projected “my athlete” (from the projection tool)
  • Red/green/orange/purple/pink backgrounds — projected competitors (up to 5)

9 Attempt board

Below the leaderboard. Shows every lifter’s 9 attempts in one table, plus a Status column telling you what’s next.

⚪ (weight)
Made lift. Shows the weight.
🔴 (weight)
Missed lift. Shows the weight.
— S
Scratched (grey).
→ up
The next attempt this lifter is on.
—
Not reached yet.
💥 Bombed
Missed all 3 attempts on the same lift. Total is invalid.
⚪ Done
All lifts complete.

10 Projection tool

The left panel’s second half. Answers the question “if everyone hits their planned third attempt, where does my lifter finish?”

  1. Add your lifter to the leaderboard first (with Add / Update Athlete). Make sure you marked them as My Athlete: Yes.
  2. Select your athlete in the “Select My Athlete to Project” dropdown.
  3. Enter projected attempts in the My athlete projections box. You can overshoot their actuals — leave attempts blank to use their real numbers.
  4. Click + Add Competitor for each opponent you want to include. Type the competitor’s name (must match a lifter already on the leaderboard). Their real attempts auto-load into the fields.
  5. Enter projected attempts for each competitor. Same rule — blanks use their real numbers.
  6. Click Run projection. The leaderboard re-sorts with all projected totals. Your athlete and competitors appear as new colored rows marked with P:.
💡 Use case

Your lifter has a 300kg squat, needs a 210kg bench, is about to pull deadlifts. The Best Lifter leader has a 712 total. Enter projected deadlifts at 220, 230, 240 and see which attempt flips them into first on DOTS. That’s the attempt you call.

Free Coach cap: 3 competitors max. Paid Athlete cap: 5 competitors. Paid Coach: unlimited.

11 Display mode

A full-screen HD projection of the leaderboard designed for a TV or monitor at the meet. Click the 📺 Display button in the header.

What shows

  • Top Male DOTS and Top Female DOTS — two side-by-side leader cards at the top
  • Division & weight-class groupings with color-coded headers (Open = green, Junior = blue, Submaster = purple, Masters = red)
  • Top 3 in each group get gold/silver/bronze medallions
  • Gap to group leader shown under each non-leader’s total
  • Auto-sizing — text scales to fit the screen

Tips

  • Open Display Mode on a laptop connected to an HDMI monitor, then press F11 for true fullscreen
  • The display auto-refreshes as you enter new lifts on the main app
  • Click the red Close button (top-right) or press Esc to exit
⚠ Paid feature

Display Mode is locked for free users. Test codes count as paid. Upgrade or contact support for a code if you need it.

12 Save, load & export

Header buttons, left to right:

Save
Saves all current athletes to your browser’s local storage. Doesn’t save projections — only real entered athletes.
Load
Pulls back the last saved state. Useful if you accidentally cleared or want to return to a saved point.
Clear
Wipes ALL athletes from the current session AND deletes saved data. Use with caution. The form also resets.
Export
Downloads a CSV of your current leaderboard + projections. Values are in pounds, 2 decimal places.
Import
Upload a CSV to load data back. Accepts both pound-based (new) and kilogram-based (old) exports — column headers tell L.I.F.T. which is which.

CSV columns

The export includes: Name, EventName, Federation, State, Sex, Age, Bodyweight, WeightClass, 9 attempt columns, Division, Mine (yes/no), 3 best-lift columns, Total, DOTS, and 3 rack-height columns.

For the 9 attempt cells:

  • Empty = no attempt
  • Positive number = made lift
  • Negative number = missed lift (e.g., -407.85)
  • S = scratched
⚠ Free tier warning

Save, Load, Export, and Import are all locked for free users. Free users lose their data when they close the tab. If you’re running a live meet, you need a paid plan or a test code — do not rely on the free tier for meet day.

13 Meet-day workflow

The most efficient sequence for running a meet with L.I.F.T.:

  1. Night before: enter all known lifters (your athletes and their expected competitors). Fill in names, sex, bodyweight, weight class, division, rack heights. Don’t enter attempts yet — leave blank. Click Save. Mark your lifters as My Athlete: Yes.
  2. Morning of: open the app, click Load. Verify all lifters are there. Enter Event Name, Federation, State once at the top.
  3. Weigh-ins: update each lifter’s actual weigh-in bodyweight. Type their name to auto-load, correct the Bodyweight field, click Add / Update Athlete.
  4. Rack heights at check-in: update the Rack Heights section for each of your lifters with whatever they set at equipment check.
  5. Squat flights start: as each of your lifters hits or misses a squat, type their name to auto-load, enter the weight, click Miss if it’s a no-lift, then Add / Update Athlete. Repeat for competitors whose lifts you want tracked.
  6. Between flights: run the Projection tool to pick your lifter’s next attempt. See who you can catch, who’s out of reach, and where Best Lifter is trending.
  7. Display Mode: if you have a monitor set up, click Display. Leave it running — it updates automatically as you enter lifts.
  8. End of meet: click Export to download a CSV backup. Save it somewhere off your laptop in case your browser crashes.
✓ Pro tip

Enter your lifter AND 1–2 direct rivals as “My Athletes” yes/no is irrelevant for this, but have their numbers in the leaderboard. This way the projection tool has real competitor data to pull from automatically instead of making you type attempts twice.

? Frequently asked questions

How does DOTS scoring work?

DOTS (Dynamic Objective Team Scoring) is a formula that adjusts a lifter’s total for their bodyweight and sex, producing a single number that lets you compare a 60kg woman to a 140kg man fairly. It replaced the older Wilks formula as the standard in most federations for Best Lifter awards.

L.I.F.T. calculates DOTS automatically using the actual bodyweight (not the weight class) and the lifter’s sex. You don’t need to do anything to get DOTS — just enter bodyweight and lifts.

What if I enter lifts in kg but my meet is in pounds?

Use the lb/kg toggle button at the top of the app to switch the display unit. All existing values auto-convert. The underlying math is always in kg, so DOTS and totals stay correct regardless of what unit you’re looking at.

CSV exports are always in pounds with 2 decimal places, regardless of what unit you’re viewing in.

Can multiple people use the app at the same time?

Not in real-time. L.I.F.T. runs in each user’s browser independently — there’s no shared database. Two laptops using L.I.F.T. at the same meet will each have their own view.

Workarounds: export a CSV from one laptop, email/Slack it to the other, import. Or designate one “scorekeeper” laptop that does all the entry while everyone else watches Display Mode on a shared screen.

What happens if I close the browser tab?

Paid users: your data is safe if you clicked Save before closing. Reopen the site, sign in, and click Load. Free users: your data is lost — free tier doesn’t persist to localStorage.

For meet day, always click Save every time you enter a batch of lifts. And export a CSV as a second backup.

I forgot my access code. How do I sign back in?

Email support (the link is on the Sign In screen at the bottom). Include the email address you signed up with. We’ll verify your subscription and resend your code.

To avoid this next time: paste your code into a password manager, or email it to yourself with a subject line like “LIFT code” so you can search for it later.

Why is the Display button greyed out?

Display Mode is a paid feature. Free users see it at 45% opacity with an “Upgrade to unlock” tooltip. Clicking it pops the upgrade modal.

If you have a valid test code, it should be unlocked — if not, your code may have expired. Check the top-right badge — it shows days remaining for test access.

The app is asking me to sign up even though I paid. Why?

You’re probably on a different browser, incognito window, or device than the one you subscribed on. The app stores your tier in local storage, which is browser-specific.

To restore: click the “Already subscribed? Sign in” link on the landing page, enter your access code. You’ll be logged in on that browser.

Can I track a meet that’s not in the US?

Yes — State is optional. Leave it blank for non-US meets. Weight classes are the same worldwide. Division labels (Open, Junior, Submaster, Masters) work for most federations internationally.

What’s the difference between a “My Athlete” and a competitor?

My Athlete = Yes means this is a lifter you’re personally coaching (or yourself). They show with a gold row on the leaderboard. Their rack heights are trackable. They can be selected for the projection tool.

My Athlete = No means this is someone else in the meet — a competitor you’re tracking to see where your lifter stacks up. No special highlighting, no rack heights, but they can be pulled into the projection tool as an opponent.

If a lifter bombs out on squat, can they still bench and deadlift?

In real meets, yes — but their total won’t count for placements. In L.I.F.T., enter all their misses on squat (which triggers the 💥 Bombed status). You can still enter their bench and deadlift attempts if you want, but their total stays invalid (shows as —) because they bombed.

Does L.I.F.T. work on my phone?

Yes. The whole app is mobile-responsive. The two panels stack vertically on narrow screens. Number inputs use native mobile keyboards. You won’t want to run Display Mode on a phone, but data entry works fine.

iOS Safari and Android Chrome are the primary tested browsers. If you hit a display issue, let support know which device/browser combo.

How do I cancel my subscription?

Billing is through Stripe. Email support with your account email and we’ll send you a Stripe customer portal link where you can cancel or update payment details. You keep access until the end of your current billing period.

My question isn’t here.

Email support from the Sign In screen or reach out through the social channel you followed us on. Real humans read replies — usually within 24 hours.

L.I.F.T. — Leader In Forecasting Totals · Back to app