Just about anybody can enter and compete in a competitive eating contest, but there aren’t too many people around the world who’ve mastered the ability to win almost every competition they compete in. While these professionals do have outstanding stomach capacity which they’ve been working on developing for years, they also have phenomenal technique when it comes to speed eating all the various contest foods they encounter. As with food challenge strategies, each of the typical eating contest foods require a different technique in order to eat it as quickly as possible. Disregarding the importance of stomach capacity for a moment, eating technique is definitely what separates elite eaters (elite techniques) from good eaters (good techniques) and then the other amateurs/beginners (poor techniques). If you are just starting out and still trying to ‘learn the ropes,’ we don’t expect you to have flawless technique just yet. You may not even have a clue what you are doing, and you could be doing some of the things mentioned in How To Lose A Competitive Eating Contest (don’t do those!!). Have no fear though, since FoodChallenges.com is here!! This article features multiple videos that will help you improve your techniques and speed significantly, thanks to tips from some of the fastest eaters in the world.

Hot dogs, chicken wings, barbecue ribs, and oysters are very popular eating contest foods, and they are all considered “technique foods” since they require much more hand-eye coordination and technique than most other foods do. Hand speed plays a big factor as well, which is another reason that some people are better with these foods than others. There are only so many ways to eat burgers, sandwiches, bacon, slices of pizza, and other foods like those. There are a few things you can do of course, but most of the tips you need for those foods are featured throughout Speed Eating: How To Eat Food Faster. That article will help you improve your eating speed in general, regardless of which foods you have to eat. Since my primary focus is winning food challenges, I don’t specifically train to improve my eating techniques very often in regards to those “technique foods.” I typically have more time to eat them when they are part of any of my challenges, and I don’t just have a few minutes. Because of that, it would be silly for me to make recommendations about things I don’t have much experience with. Therefore, I have searched all over YouTube to find the best videos featuring tips and advice from the professional eaters around the world who specifically practice their techniques often year-round. Here are those videos, beginning with “How To Speed Eat Hot Dogs” which is the most popular eating contest food:

How To Speed Eat Hot Dogs – Matt “Megatoad” Stonie

Matt “Megatoad” Stonie from San Jose, California is the #1 ranked professional competitive eater involved with Major League Eating, and won the 2015 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest by finishing 62 hot dogs & buns in 10 minutes. Here are his tips for speed eating hot dogs which mentions all the most common techniques used:

How To Speed Eat Chicken Wings – Crazy Legs Conti

Crazy Legs Conti is one of Major League Eating’s head ambassadors, and has been involved with competitive eating since winning his very first MLE contest in 2002. He is most known for his 2004 documentary film Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating. Here are his tips for eating chicken wings very quickly:

How To Speed Eat Barbecue Ribs – Matt “Megatoad” Stonie

Matt “Megatoad” Stonie has won many different BBQ rib eating contests. These are all of his pro tips:

How To Speed Eat Oysters – Colin Shirlow and Sonya Thomas

Colin Shirlow has dominated The World Oyster Eating Championship held in Belfast, Northern Ireland for over 10 years in a row. Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas is the top USA professional eater in regards to speed eating oysters. This is not really a “how to” video, but all you need to do is watch this video of the 2012 World Oyster Eating Contest, featuring both Colin and Sonya. Colin’s technique and hand speed is flawless, and Sonya’s is amazing as well. Just watch how calm Colin is as he consumes more than 1 per second for 3 minutes straight:

General Competitive Eating Seminar – “Furious” Pete

“Furious” Pete created an interactive video with tips for eating burgers, hot dogs, pizza, & chicken wings:

Those five videos will definitely help you improve your technique when eating those particular foods. If you are competing in an eating contest involving a food not shown above, check out all our Strategies Per Challenge Type articles and videos to see if the food is covered in any of those. Regardless of what you have to eat, make sure you’ve read and understand Speed Eating: How To Eat Food Faster. Lastly, read How To Lose A Competitive Eating Contest to find out what you definitely should NOT be doing during any of your upcoming competitions.

NOTE: You can also improve your particular techniques by watching other eaters on YouTube during their various eating contests involving the foods you want to get faster with. You don’t just need to look for tutorial videos showing you how. Analyze what they do well and then figure out how you can adapt some of those things to fit your personal capabilities. Just be sure you are watching people that actually know what they are doing!! Some techniques may work well for you and some may not. Keep on practicing and training until you figure out which tactics you are comfortable with. That’s what I did when I first began ‘eating,’ which really worked well for me.

Thanks for reading how to speed eat various eating contest foods and using FoodChallenges.com!!

To go back and view other Eating Contest Tips articles, click here.