By now, you’ve probably seen CrossFit workouts posted all around social media or in health magazines and wondered “what does that even mean?” When I started, it took me a solid three months to catch on due to all the acronyms and different types of workouts. I had to do a bunch of research outside of the gym to even look like I knew what I was doing INSIDE the gym. SO, here’s my definitive guide to the language. I’m sure I’ll miss some because there really are that many but my goal here is to help you not feel so lost….whether you’re a CF veteran or new.
General Terms
WOD - Workout of the Day. Pretty simple.
CF - CrossFit!
CFHQ - CrossFit Headquarters
MOB - Abbreviation for mobility.
Affiliate - A CrossFit gym. There are gyms out there that do CrossFit but don’t pay the affiliate fee.
Box - Also a CrossFit gym.
Bumper - A rubber weight that can be dropped without much fear of damage.
Partition - Split up rep quantities, usually done on Chippers (described later).
Couplet - A workout with two movements.
Triplet - A workout with three movements.
CrossFit Games - A yearly fitness competition for the top 0.1% of CrossFitters. Think the NBA compared to your City Rec League.
CrossFit Open - A yearly online competition for CrossFit Affiliate Members all around the world.
GPP - General Physical Preparedness
Metcon - Metabolic Conditioning. Shorter workouts designed to elevate your heart rate.
PR - Personal Record
RX - Workout as prescribed.
Scaled - Modification of a workout. For example, if you cannot do pull-ups, we would scale you down to a ring row (RR) or Jumping Pull-up.
1RM - 1 Rep Max. The heaviest you can lift of a particular movement.
KG - Kilogram, or 2.2lbs.
Stimulus - How your body should feel during and after a workout. The common types we use are strength, Metcon, and Aerobic.
DB - Dumbbell
Types of Workouts or “WODs”
AMRAP - As Many Rounds As Possible. In this type of workout, you do the prescribed movements and reps, in order, over and over for a particular duration. Your score is recorded in “rounds + plus reps.” Here’s an example:
In this example, the blocks of movements and reps are rounds. You’d do them repeatedly for 16 minutes. If the timer goes off in the middle of the round, you’d record the reps you completed. If I had 9 rounds and only made it through my pistols, I would record “9+9” as my score. Sometimes you’d just input your total reps.
EMOM - Every Minute On the Minute. For the given movement and reps, you’d perform them at the top of every minute and rest with the time remaining. Sometimes, no # of reps is given and instead it’s a time duration. The score for duration type of workouts is usually your total number of reps. Here’s an example:
This is an example of a duration EMOM. For the first movement, you’d perform Jug or Air Squats for 45 seconds and then rest for 15 seconds. The next minute you’d do the Glute Bridge Hold and so on. You’d repeat this 5 MIN block, four times (EMOM 5 MIN X 4).
FT - For Time. This type of workout is task oriented. The format is usually very open ended but at the end of the day, you’d perform the reps and movements as fast as you can (as long as you can maintain proper form). A classic is example is Fran:
In the workout “Fran,” you perform 21 Thrusters, 21 Pull-ups, 15 Thrusters, 15 Pull-ups, 9 Thrusters, and 9 Pull-ups as fast as you can. Your score is your time. You record your time so that when this workout is revisited, you can compare it to see if you’re any “fitter.”
X RFT - Rounds For Time. RFT kind of builds upon an AMRAP and FT (For Time) in that you’d perform a set round X number of times. Your score would be your time.
Tabata - A tabata is a series of movements performed for a prescribed duration and a prescribed rest period for a set number of rounds. Here’s an example from our Fit Club class:
In this Tabata, you’d perform each movement for 20 seconds, followed by a 20 second rest. All the movements are considered one “round” and you’d do this four times. The total workout time would be 16 minutes, half of which would be rest. These can be scored but they aren’t usually unless it’s a benchmark.
Chipper - A chipper is a FT (For Time) workout that is longer in duration that you “chip” away at. For instance, 100 Pull-ups, 100 Sit-ups, 100 Air Squats.
Those are the most common types of workouts we have. Here’s a list of movements and their associated acronyms:
Movements
*AS - Air Squat (https://youtu.be/rMvwVtlqjTE)
*DL - Deadlift (https://youtu.be/op9kVnSso6Q)
*SDLHP - Sumo Deadlift High Pull (https://youtu.be/gh55vVlwlQg)
*PP - Push Press (https://youtu.be/iaBVSJm78ko)
*SP - Strict Press (https://youtu.be/5yWaNOvgFCM)
*FS - Front Squat (https://youtu.be/uYumuL_G_V0)
BS - Back Squat (https://youtu.be/ultWZbUMPL8)
*OHS - Overhead Squat (https://youtu.be/pn8mqlG0nkE)
OHL - Overhead Lunge (https://youtu.be/m6MczOv_Ayg)
HSPU - Hand Stand Push-up (Kipping https://youtu.be/InRvHNUOlSs or Strict https://youtu.be/0wDEO6shVjc)
PU - Push-up (https://youtu.be/0pkjOk0EiAk)
RPU - Ring Push-up (https://youtu.be/FRiiZRhapeU)
SU - Sit-up (https://youtu.be/_HDZODOx7Zw)
DU or DUB - Double Under (https://youtu.be/82jNjDS19lg)
KB Swing - Kettlebell Swing (https://youtu.be/mKDIuUbH94Q)
WB - Wall Ball (https://youtu.be/EqjGKsiIMCE)
K2C - Knees to Chest (https://youtu.be/n1B86xkVr30)
K2E - Knees to Elbows (https://youtu.be/_DUlB4YpZRw)
BE - Back Extensions (https://youtu.be/xMyFXMZ6Ch0)
T2B - Toes to Bar (https://youtu.be/_03pCKOv4l4)
T2R - Toes to Rings (https://youtu.be/gBzu4wgD2Dk)
BMU - Bar Muscle Up (https://youtu.be/OCg3UXgzftc)
RMU - Ring Muscle Up (https://youtu.be/G8W0BhzrWcs)
Cals - A calorie, or unit measure by one a piece of cardio equipment
RR - Ring Row (https://youtu.be/sEAOZc77wk8)
BJ - Box Jump (https://youtu.be/NBY9-kTuHEk)
C&J - Clean & Jerk (https://youtu.be/PjY1rH4_MOA)
Snatch (https://youtu.be/9xQp2sldyts)
Power Snatch - A snatch without a squat (https://youtu.be/TL8SMp7RdXQ)
Hang Snatch - A snatch from the knee area (https://youtu.be/IucshEToDyM)
DB Snatch - A snatch with a dumbbell (https://youtu.be/9520DJiFmvE)
Clean - (https://youtu.be/EKRiW9Yt3Ps)
*Med Ball Clean - (https://youtu.be/KVGhkHSrDJo)
Hang Clean - (https://youtu.be/TjTEOme9fvw)
Power Clean - A clean without a squat (https://youtu.be/KwYJTpQ_x5A)
Hang Clean - A clean from the knee area (https://youtu.be/TjTEOme9fvw)
Split Jerk - (https://youtu.be/GUDkOtraHHY)
*Push Jerk - (https://youtu.be/VrHNJXoSyXw)
Pistol - A one legged squat (https://youtu.be/qDcniqddTeE)
S2OH - Shoulder to Overhead. This is a broad term used for getting weight from the front rack to overhead position.
Thruster - A front squat plus push press (https://youtu.be/L219ltL15zk)
Turkish Get-up - (https://youtu.be/-_zTytmHM94)
Rowing - https://youtu.be/fxfhQMbATCw
Walking Lunge - (https://youtu.be/DlhojghkaQ0)
Bench Press - (https://youtu.be/SCVCLChPQFY)
Burpee - (https://youtu.be/TU8QYVW0gDU)
Good Morning - (https://youtu.be/YA-h3n9L4YU)
The asterisk (*) denotes a foundational movement. All items in BOLD do not require equipment.
Most of the barbell movements shown can be done with a dumbbell rather than a barbell. As you can see, there is ton of variation than can be done in the movements alone. Coupled with the various workout types, we have an infinite number of workouts that can be done. Not only that, we can modify any of the movement to meet your physical ability. There is no shame in scaling (modifying) as long as you get the desired stimulus from the workout. If you have any questions or comments, post them below!
