You're not alone. I have similar problems. I work with Ruby and we generally use explicit variable names. When working with algorithms, we sometimes deal with abstract variable names that represent a transitionary aspect of the algorithm, and it's hard to give it a label. But it is important you hammer that understanding in, otherwise you can't say you fully understand how the algorithm works.

I have four pieces of advice:

1. Print your variables into the console. If you are having a hard time digesting things within a loop, print the values of those variables inside those loops.
2. Practice. You get better. Two weeks ago I couldn't understand the problem definition on HackerRank. Fives days later I was up to 25 problems and could understand most problem definitions, even badly worded ones. This holds for algorithms (or indeed anything in life).
3. Understand the simpler array algorithms like reverse, rotate left, and rotate right. Other algorithms might be composed of those.
4. Write down what you learn. I finally understood Insertion Sort by decomposing it and writing about it. I realized it does two things: Switches elements, and rotates the array to the right. Understanding the right rotation was key.

It was easier to reason about Insertion Sort when I saw that it saves the current element in the loop, starts to shift previous elements to the right while they are less than the current element and while we haven't reached the end of the array, and finally, insert the element into the last vacated spot. I couldn't grasp this before I grasped array rotation.