I've worked with a lot of CrossFit athletes this year, helping several prepare fo the Canada East regionals. I helped some with their Olympic lifting and others with their entire training. I'll tell you this: I've trained figure competitors who go to extreme lengths in their dieting, cardio, and training, and quite a few of the CrossFit girls I'm working with have better physiques than the figure girls … and that’s without dieting. Similarly, a former Canada national bodybuilding champion I know started training for CrossFit and she looks better - not just better, but also more muscular and stronger - than when she was bodybuilding!
I always believed that CrossFit made girls look great and guys look small, in addition to making them lose strength. I don’t' believe the latter anymore because some of the competitive CrossFit athletes are quite strong. The average competitor in the CrossFit games can do a 245-pound snatch, 335-pound clean and jerk, 550-pound deadlift, and a 450-pound back squat. And several overhead squat in the 300s and front squat in the 400s. Four of the guys I'm coaching can snatch over 225 pounds, which pretty darn strong!
This was an interesting read because I so rarely get a glimpse into the mind of the bodybuilder. The focus on performance in CrossFit - no part of a WOD is build to make a body look better, the WOD is built to create performance - makes it a liberating way to train.
That said, most will not get the best results in body composition if they eat the same crappy foods that made them fat and sick in the first place.
So what I tell my folks is - train to develop the physical capacity you desire, and eat to be healthy (and more lean if you like that sort of thing).
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