The ABCs of competitive eating

Morgan Park Academy grad and champion competitive eater Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti offers newbies this disclaimer: If you're crazy enough to try it, make sure you're always careful.

Here are his other tips to successful competitive eating:

1. Overcome the mental battle: Believe you can do better and never settle for less when your mind hits a mental barrier. Always know the stomach isn't done, your mind is just telling you so.

2. Stamina may be the most important aspect of competitive eating; it's what sets apart your uncle who loves pizza from our hero, Bertoletti, who can eat 19 16-inch slices in about 10 minutes. The ability to maintain the same hyper speed throughout the competition is what makes people like Bertoletti a champion.

3. Ask any coach in any sport and they'll tell you the same thing, "You just can't teach speed." In football or basketball, the same goes with competitive eating: You either got it, or you don't.

4. Jaw strength is as important as anything else. Most people can go half-way or three-quarters the way through a competition without slowing down, but it's the stretch run that throws most competitors out of the prize money. The more conditioned your jaw is to sustain itself for the longest amount of time at the fastest speed, is what will get you into the top 10 rankings worldwide.

5. You may have the strongest jaw, the ability to eat 40 hot dogs and buns in good time, but you need the place to put all of that. You don't need a fat stomach, but you do need to have the ability to store it all. As you watch competitive eating, most, if not all, competitors will stretch and stand up and move around as need be. If there's room, they'll find it--but sometimes, enough is enough.