BB, DB, DU… Welcome to the CrossFit Alphabet Soup
Published on HivePostify by @elianaicgomes · Tue Sep 01 2026
Decoding CrossFit #3 — Because apparently complete words take too much energy!
At this point, I think we're making progress!
We already know:
WOD = Workout Of the Day.
We've survived AMRAP, E3MOM and AFAP.
Surely CrossFit should start making sense now, right?
...No.
Because apparently writing Dumbbell takes far too much time when you can write DB And Barbell? BB. Double Unders? DU. Calories? Cal.
At some point I started wondering whether all these abbreviations exist because CrossFitters are too tired to finish their words...Which is understandable lol
So today we're going to tackle some of the letters that keep appearing on my actual WODs.
And this board is a pretty good place to start:
Look at that beauty!
WOD / AMRAP / DB / D.U. / Cal
Perfectly normal sentence in CrossFitland...Absolute nonsense anywhere else!
So...
Let's translate.
DB
Probably one of the easiest ones. On this particular WOD I had:
10 DB Snatch alt.
Which means:
10 Alternating Dumbbell Snatches.
The alternating part simply means changing arms between repetitions.
And look at that...We translated one line! We're basically fluent now!
...Don't get too excited.
---
BB
We've already seen this one in another one of my WODs:
There it is:
5 BB Snatch
BB = Barbell.
So:
5 Barbell Snatches.
Simple.
And I actually like this abbreviation because once you know DB and BB, quite a few things suddenly become easier to read.
DB Snatch → Dumbbell Snatch BB Snatch → Barbell Snatch
Same family of movement, different equipment.
And considerably different conversations with yourself depending on how much weight is on that bar...phew!
---
DU
Ah...These little devils...
DU — sometimes written D.U. — means - Double Unders
Instead of the skipping rope passing underneath your feet once during a jump, it passes underneath twice.
Sounds simple when you write it down...My coordination may disagree lol
And if you're learning them, there is another very effective way to identify a Double Under:
The rope whips your legs.
Repeatedly lolol
Those little red marks? Apparently complimentary CrossFit tattoos.
Thankfully, the coach who wrote this particular board even gave us a translation:
D.U. = Double Unders
See? Sometimes they do speak English!
Tags: #bbh#crossfit#decodingcrossfit#wod#fitness#workout#actifit#3