How hot dog contestants went from eating 10 to 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes

In the 20 years before Kobayashi’s debut, the average champion had to eat about 16 hot dogs and buns to win the contest’s “Mustard Belt” prize. Now, they have to eat more than that just to qualify — typically 20 dogs in 10 minutes — and at least triple that to have any hope of winning.

“In competition, you can’t hope. You have to get prepared. Be ready,” Chestnut told The Washington Post.

So what makes a competitive eating champion? Is it a stretchy stomach, a specific training plan or exceptional willpower? The Post interviewed Chestnut and other top “gurgitators” to answer these burning questions ahead of this year’s competition.

Be warned — their answers are stomach-churning.

What’s the ideal body for competitive eating?

In the early years of the annual contest, casual competitors would be ushered onto the stage based on their big frames, said competitive eater Michelle Lesco, the 2021 women’s hot dog champion. But as the contest started operating more like an athletic event with qualifiers, the typical body type changed.

Some genetic traits that promote a natural affinity for competitive eating include a tall, wide build, low-placed stomach, a wide jaw and large teeth, top eaters said.

Notably missing from the list: a large belly.

The “belt of fat” theory popularized by Major League Eating, the sport’s organizing body, claims that heavier competitors have a restrictive layer of fatty tissue that limits stomach expansion. Top eaters, rather, said they aim to stay fit leading up to a competition to maximize energy levels.

“When I’m carrying extra weight, I don’t have the same amount of energy and stamina to exert all my energy across 10 minutes,” said Miki Sudo, who has won the women’s hot dog competition eight times since it began in 2011.

Sudo weighs 125 pounds according to her eater biography, which also touts her 2022 record of 21 corn dogs in eight minutes.

Genetics help many eaters excel, said Nick Wehry, who took third place in the 2021 hot dog contest and also downed 50 hard-boiled eggs in just over three minutes.

Take Chestnut, who stands about 6 feet tall, weighs 230 pounds and is ranked No. 1 in the world.

“Joey’s kind of just a wider guy,” Wehry said. “He’s kind of built to fit stuff.”

As eaters have continued to push the limits, researcher James M. Smoliga wrote a 2020 study investigating just how much more the human body can take.

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With a mathematical model used to understand improvement patterns in other sports records, Smoliga predicted today’s eaters might max out in the low 80s. That is, unless a competitor with a more ideal body enters the field.

“If you had a 7-foot-4 male who started training for competitive eating in their 20s and went after it for 10 years, my guess is they would probably blow Joey Chestnut out of the water,” he said.

Chestnut said he has already reached 82 hot dogs and buns in a training session and thinks it’s humanly possible to go even higher.

“If I could train somebody,” Chestnut said, “I think I could push somebody with the right build to 90.”

But he added that psychological drive and careful preparation are far more important than genetics to achieving victory.

Chewing like a champion

Many July Fourth hot dog contestants win various eating competitions throughout the year, devouring foods like sweet corn, wings, pistachios and pumpkin pie. Chestnut’s more than 50 records range from 12.5 pounds of asparagus in 10 minutes to 81 waffles (Eggo-style) in eight minutes.

Different foods require different approaches when preparing for a contest, eaters said. Some competitions test “pure capacity,” like pumpkin pie or chili, while others require practiced efficiency to eat quickly, like wings or ribs.

Sudo, who set the female record of 48.5 dogs and buns in 10 minutes, said hot dogs are the most challenging food to speed-eat because they combine speed, capacity, technique and endurance. That’s why she focuses on maximizing efficiency in her eating movements when she prepares for the contest.

“I should be able to do this in my sleep with my eyes closed,” Sudo said.

Picking up one dog in each hand, she starts biting one repeatedly with her front teeth, making a row of notches in the hot dog that give it the flexibility to travel down her esophagus without being fully chewed. She dips a hot dog bun in strawberry-orange-banana flavored water, saturating it just enough to slide down her throat and wash down the meat.

Where Sudo leans on methodical efficiency when training, others violently mash the meat with powerful jaw muscles. Some use practice sessions to identify the ideal bite size that can maximize speed and minimize risk of choking.

2017: Joey Chestnut trains for the annual hot dog eating contest

Chestnut said he chews on a facial exercise product called Jawzrsize, described as the “future of facelifting,” to strengthen the many muscles used to chew and swallow. He also fashioned a custom contraption that allows him to lift weight with his jaw. He grips a gum guard molded to his teeth to lift a bag full of water, pushing up on a rubber strip with his tongue on every rep as he simulates the full-body rocking motion he uses on contest day.

Some of his training techniques, accumulated over the years through personal research and trial and error, he keeps secret from competitors.

“I don’t tell everybody,” Chestnut said. “I’ve worked my butt off to figure out how to train these muscles.”

A dunk and a wiggle

Eaters described an intensive attention to detail.

Dunking the buns serves two purposes, they said. It helps them swallow the buns faster, and it provides hydration so they can drink less liquid.

Some eaters, such as Sudo, use flavored water to offset the overwhelming saltiness and garlickiness of the Nathan’s Famous natural casing hot dog.

Others — Lesco, for instance — use regular water heated to the temperature of a bath.

She also mentioned the importance of body movements that help swallow food continuously. During the competition, eaters will often jump or wiggle, or push on their stomachs to try to simulate a burp.

“Sometimes I’ll throw my head back like a goose just trying to swallow something,” she said.

Achieving the eater mentality

Top eaters agree: It’s really not too comfortable to force upward of 10 pounds of hot dogs and buns into your stomach in a matter of minutes.

That’s where a capacity for suffering comes in handy.

“Ideally, that feeling of full is is completely ignored,” Chestnut said. “What you’re feeling is tightness and feeling the burps trying to come up. You’re trying to either stop them from coming out or try to sneak the burps out very carefully so they don’t look like barf.”

Joey Chestnut has eaten 19,200 hot dogs. A new study says he has lost 1.3 years of his life.

Despite completing about seven 10-minute training sessions leading up to July 4 this year, no amount of preparation can fend off the physical discomfort that comes right after the contest.

“I go into it knowing I’m going to feel like garbage.”

Source: Hot dog contest data from Major League Eating. Editing by Kevin Uhrmacher, Christian Font, Tim Meko and Bonnie Berkowitz.