Competitive Eating 101
What did you learn during the beginning stages of competitive eating?
Ian "The Invader" Hickman: Don't be intimidated by your competitors. There's a lot of people that I've competed against that really try to play mind games and stuff. I would say that's probably my main concern or was whenever I first started and after I got over the hump of people saying, "You know you are not going to do well," or "I just ate 40 lbs. of cheese last night." Focus on yourself. Get comfortable. Do what you came to do and do it.
What surprised you about becoming a competitive eater?
The thing that surprised me most about being a competitive eater is that I'm not sick and tired of one single food that I've set a record in or ate competitively or lost or whatever. I mean, I've eaten pounds of frog legs. I've eaten pounds of pancakes. I've eaten pounds of hot dogs. I like frog legs, but I still love pancakes and hamburgers and hot dogs and all this other stuff that I've eaten tons of. I think that has been the most surprising thing to me.
What does everybody need to know to survive competitive eating?
To survive competitive eating you can never get comfortable. I really feel that if you're going to excel than you need to make sure or realize that you are not the best eater out there some one will beat you. It's a matter of time, so to survive, get better, keep training and never stop.
What are some common 'beginner mistakes' in competitive eating?
I really feel the beginner's mistake for a lot of competitors is that people that want to get started in competitive eating really feel and believe that they are as great as Joey Chestnut, Kobayashi, you know, Goose Gilbert, you know, people that have made names in competitive eating from eating a lot of food and what these beginners they think that they can just come off the street and do well. That rarely happens so I think that they like do training and stuff like that that actually goes into being a very good competitive eater.
How long did it take you to grow accustom to competitive eating?
I honestly don't feel I've ever grown accustomed to competitive eating. I've been doing this for, I'm going on my third year competitively eating now. There's so many different foods out there for me to eat and there's so many different contests I've not participated in that I will never be comfortable. I almost like that because competition always changes, whether it's the food or how the food is prepared or the length of the contest or the rules involved. You never know what you're going to get and to me that's, I guess that's where my passion for the sport is. It's always different. It's always challenging.
