You’ve seen them compete on TV, stuffing hot dogs in their mouth. You like hot dogs, and you like to eat. You could do this. All it takes is a big mouth and a big stomach. Right? Well, not quite.
If you don’t use the right strategy for shoving all these hot dogs in your belly, then you could die. So grab a bucket of water, some chewing gum and your dancing shoes. We’re about to show you how it’s done.
In October 2021, a 20-year-old university student died after choking during a hot dog eating contest. She was not the first person who died at an eating contest. Speed eating can lead to food getting stuck in your throat and choking you.
There’s a reason your mother always told you to slow down when eating. So what can you do to prepare for a hot dog eating contest? How can you train your body? And why should you stay indoors before the competition?
Step 1. See Your Doctor
Your friends may say the doctor you need to see is a psychiatrist, but that’s not the type of doctor we’re talking about. See your family doctor and check you don’t have any underlying issues that could make it dangerous to compete.
Step 2. Choose a Technique
Just stuffing food down your gullet can make you choke. There are a few different techniques you can use, and you’ll need to choose one to prepare for competition. You could try using the “Divide and Conquer” method. That’s eating the meat separate from the bun.
Or there’s the “Soloman” technique, where you take “Divide and Conquer” a step further and break the wiener and bun into smaller pieces before eating them. There’s also the “Two Meat, Two Bun” technique. Like the “Soloman” technique, you’d separate the meat from the bun and break it down, but eating two wieners and two buns at a time. However, this technique increases the risk of choking, so we don’t recommend it.
What might be best is “Dunk and Shove”. That’s when you scarf down the meat while dunking the bun in water. Wet buns slide down the throat easier. Joey Chestnut, the most successful hot dog eating competitor, uses this approach. But you need to find the method that’s right for you.
Step 3. Train Your Body
Yes, if you hope to compete in a hot dog eating contest, you need to train beforehand. And we don’t mean eating lots of food, although that is part of it. Exercising your whole body in the weeks leading up to competition will increase your metabolism. Many champions use cardiovascular and weight-training programs. And you’ll need to exercise your jaw muscles to help with chewing and prevent the jaw muscles from seizing during competition. That could make you choke. Chewing multiple pieces of gum is a great way to strengthen these muscles.
Drinking lots of water and eating lots of low-calorie foods will help expand your stomach. An average stomach is the size of a NERF football and can expand up to 15%. You can simulate a competition to see how many hot dogs you can eat in 10 minutes. But don’t overdo it.
On average, adults eat about 1,800 to 2,500 calories per day. A hot dog and bun are about 310 calories. And if you hope to compete against Joey Chestnut, you’ll need to eat enough to approach his world record of 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes. That’s over 23,000 calories. It is definitely not something you could do every day. Practicing every 4 to 6 days should be more than enough. Most competitors will drink up to a gallon of water after each training session.
Step 4. Competition Day
On the day before the competition, eat as little as possible so you have more room for the upcoming hot dog onslaught. Many hot dog eating competitions take place outdoors in the summer, so you’ll likely be out in the heat during competition. Heat lessens appetite, so you’ll want to stay indoors as much as possible before the challenge. Stay on track and do what you’ve trained for. Don’t change your technique now.
As the competition starts, you’ll notice the most seasoned competitors moving and bouncing up and down. This helps digest the hot dogs, so you may want to dance a little as you eat. The theoretical limit of hot dogs someone can consume in one 10-minute session is 83. World record holder Joey Chestnut has eaten as many as 76 hot dogs in competition.
When it comes to a hot-dog eating contest, there are weiners and losers. We’re not sure where you’d fit in, but at least you made it out alive. But then you look down and see some blue fuzzy stuff on your remaining hot dogs. Did you just eat a bunch of moldy weiners?
