The Two-Hands Anyhow

c. 1890 – 1925 · Two-implement compound lift

The two-hands anyhow was a recognised European compound lift through the 1900s and 1910s. The lifter raised a barbell overhead with one hand by the bent press, then — without lowering the bar — picked up a second weight, typically a kettlebell, and pressed or hoisted it up beside the first. The combined weight overhead was the figure that counted.

Description

The lift had two phases. First, the lifter performed a bent press of a heavy barbell to overhead — itself the maximum effort for most lifters in the lift's category. With the bar locked overhead in one hand, the lifter then bent down (without losing the overhead bar) to pick up a second implement, usually a kettlebell on the floor. The second weight was raised by any means — pressed, hoisted with body assistance, or jerked — until both implements were stationary overhead. The lifter then stood erect with both weights locked out.

The lift was a test of three things at once: maximum bent press, the ability to hold a heavy bar overhead while the body bent and twisted, and the capacity to lift a second weight under a fixed structural load. It was the most technical of the music-hall amateur lifts.

Rules in competition

Under British and continental amateur rules, the anyhow required: the first implement to be raised overhead by the bent press or one-arm jerk; the second implement to be raised by any means; both implements stationary overhead at lockout; the lifter standing erect at completion. The implements were typically a barbell for the first lift and a thick-handled kettlebell or ringbell for the second.

Record progression

• Arthur Saxon, c. 1905 — 448 lb (203 kg). Bent press of a 336-lb barbell, with a 112-lb kettlebell hoisted with the free hand. The standing figure for the lift.
• Thomas Inch, c. 1912 — approximately 380 lb (172 kg).
• George F. Jowett, 1920s — approximately 360 lb (163 kg).

Saxon's 448 lb anyhow is, like his bent press, a benchmark that has not been credibly approached since the lift was retired.

Disputed and unresolved

The lift was effectively retired with the bent press itself in the early 1930s. Some figures attached to the anyhow in popular twentieth-century strength magazines (a 500 lb Saxon anyhow, for instance) are not in the contemporary record.