Decoding CrossFit #8 — Because lifting the bar once apparently wasn’t complicated enough.
Welcome back to Decoding CrossFit, the series where I translate the workout board and discover how much suffering can be hidden behind just a few letters!
This time, the abbreviation was C&J.
Two letters, one ampersand, and an entire Olympic lift hiding behind them!
C&J means Clean and Jerk.
(And yes, I only recently learned that the & symbol is called an ampersand. Apparently, this series is now decoding English too.)
So, what is a Clean and Jerk?
The Clean and Jerk combines two movements:
- The clean: taking the barbell from the floor to your shoulders.
- The jerk: taking the barbell from your shoulders to overhead.
It is written as if it were one exercise, but it feels more like a small sequence of negotiations with the bar.
First, convince it to leave the floor...Then, convince yourself to get underneath it...Finally, put it over your head and try to look as if that was always the plan!
Clean, Jerk… and Push Press?
The board from this workout also included BB Clean and BB Push Press, which makes everything especially helpful — or especially confusing, depending on how long you have been doing CrossFit.
The abbreviations translate like this:
- BB Clean: barbell clean, ending with the bar at the shoulders.
- BB Clean & Jerk: clean the bar to the shoulders, then drive it overhead.
- BB Push Press: start with the bar at the shoulders, use a small dip and leg drive, and press it overhead without dropping underneath it again.
They may all involve a barbell travelling upwards, but they are definitely not the same movement.
That is the sort of detail nobody tells you when you first look at the board and quietly wonder whether everyone else received a CrossFit dictionary at registration.
The 30 kg plan
For this WOD, I used 30 kg for the Clean and Jerks. And it went well...Not “I survived and would prefer never to discuss it again” well. Actually well!
The bar moved, the repetitions felt good, and by the end I had enough confidence to wonder whether I could go a little heavier! This is usually the moment when curiosity becomes a questionable decision.
So I added another 5 kg!
The unexpected 35 kg
I decided to try the movement with 35 kg. The plan could have been to test one cautious repetition, congratulate myself and leave with dignity...Instead, I managed five reps lol
It may not sound like a huge number to everyone, but that is one of the things I love about CrossFit: progress becomes very personal!
Sometimes it is learning what the abbreviation means. Sometimes it is improving the technique. And sometimes it is adding 5 kg at the end of a workout and discovering that your body is more capable than you expected.
I was very pleased with myself!
My knee would like to add something!
My knee, however, reviewed the full workout the following day and submitted a formal complaint. To be fair, the WOD also included running, rope jumps and burpee broad jumps. There was quite a lot of impact packed around those Clean and Jerks. Apparently, my knee was less impressed by the whole experience than I was...Still, I am counting the 35 kg as a win!
My knee is allowed to have its opinion. The satisfaction of surprising myself gets to stay too!
The evidence
And because 35 kg deserved evidence, here is the video.
Five reps later, I was still standing — and feeling very pleased with myself. 😂
https://snapie.io/@elianaicgomes/20260914t221322002z
When was the last time you surprised yourself by doing more than you thought you could?
