Competitive Eater Crazy Legs Conti's Diet and Fitness Routine

by Sara Abadi (Subscribe to Sara Abadi's posts)
Nov 6th 2009 2:00PM

Crazy Legs Conti, competitive eater and star of Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating

Photo: Buck Wolf, AOL News

Call it a sport that's seen a growth spurt or two, a fascinating hobby or just plain gross. You've seen the photos, or at least heard of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest -- personally my favorite part of July 4th -- but what about the other 364 days of the year? Who are these ferocious feasters and what is their life like outside of competition?

To get inside the world of competitive eating, we consulted competitive eater Crazy Legs Conti, ranked 15 in the world and most recently the cannoli eating champion. People assume competitive eaters must be 400-pound individuals who gorge themselves at all-you-can-eat buffets, and nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Crazy Legs is 6'3'' and weighs 215 pounds.

You also might be surprised to know that he's a dedicated runner and does yoga two to three times a week. "Throughout the year I eat competitively 40 to 45 times," he says. "So I'm watching every bite, chew and swallow to be able to go the table and perform to the best of my ability. It's like preparing for a marathon, but it's a marathon of eating." With about 80 competitive-eating events a year, thousands of dollars of prize money on the line and tons of buzz surrounding these events we definitely wanted to hear more from this eating expert about how he stays fit, while eating so much.

That's Fit: People might assume you sit around and eat all of the time, but you're pretty active. What is your exercise routine like?

Crazy Legs: The first thing I do is running. I jog the Williamsburg Bridge [between Brooklyn and Manhattan, in New York] three or four times a week. I travel to so many cities, so I always bring my running shoes. I'm from New York, so I don't have a car. My running shoes are what get me around these cities. The other thing I've done in the last year which I've found incredibly helpful is yoga. Now, traditional yogis would probably grossly offended that I took up yoga to eat hamburgers or hot dogs, but yoga is great for digestion -- there are poses that help digestion. The other component is breathing. I do vinyasa yoga which focuses on alternate nostril breathing. When I'm eating, my mouth is obviously full but my nose is not, so through doing yoga two to three times a week and using a neti pot my breathing has improved. I call my body the basketball-player shape, so yoga was a little daunting at first, especially with all of the tight clothing. I have gear with the Buddha on it which I thought is the perfect combination of yoga and competitive eating. He's a little plump, you know? Overall yoga and running are my main ways of exercise to burn off calories and prepare for consuming so many calories too.

TF: What is your day-to-day diet like and are there any foods you won't eat?

CL: I do yogurt or oatmeal in the morning and I do a lot of vegetables and salads. I do a lot of quinoa and grains for my carbohydrates. I actually don't eat an enormous amount of meat. If I'm going to eat meat I want the best of what I'm going to eat. In competition I'm eating Nathan's hot dogs, Krystal sliders, and so outside of competition if I'm going to consume something it's got to be something I place a premium on. You know, I'm in New York where everybody likes to be a pizza snob or a burger snob, so if I'm going to eat those foods it's got to be really good. I love all food but I'm not very good with spicy foods. Each year La Costena does a jalapeno eating contest. The record is 266 jalapeno peppers in 15 minutes. Before I retire I'm going to compete in the jalapeno eating contest. There is a good chance I will eat three and I will curl up in the fetal position and start crying. It will be an embarrassing moment. I would say you can count on me next September, it will be pretty grueling and after that probably no more jalapenos for me.

TF: Tell us a little about competition and how you prepare.

CL: So coming up I have the Martorano's Meatball Eating Contest which requires utensils, which is interesting. There's the Roy Roger's World Roast Sliders Eating Contest and the Jose's Flauta Eating Contest. Meatballs, roast beef sliders and flautas are not foods that would normally figure into a daily diet. And they don't figure into my daily diet, so I need to figure out my game plan. For roast beef sliders it's a combination of meat and bread and then I'll be using a liquid to help lubricate the throat and wash down the food in competition. So to eat as many roast beef sliders as I can in 10 minutes, I need to figure out the size, let's call it two ounces. I know I'm going to eat half of it, one ounce down, drink and then eat the other half, another ounce down. I'm not going to overload my mouth and chipmunk.

There's a lot more than just hot dogs and sliders, see what other eating competitions are out there.

Comments (10)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jay 11-07-2009 @ 4:57PM

Great. I'm looking at comments on the sport of gluttony. Two of them are using the comments area to push greedy, selfish motives, and two are using it to fulfill lusts. Are there any other of the seven deadly sins that have competitions?

bill 11-07-2009 @ 5:05PM

Gluttony. Just remember there is a special place in hell for you

wild irish rose 11-08-2009 @ 3:13PM

Hey, Bill. Passing judgment, throwing stones. Bet there's a special place for you, too.

John F.C. Taylor 11-07-2009 @ 5:54PM

May not be competitive eating,, but this article brings to my mind the TV show of Man vs Food. That and Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.

CJ 11-07-2009 @ 6:24PM

BUDA?? Are you kidding me?

mb 11-07-2009 @ 6:53PM

Moderation, moderation, moderation. Just watch what you eat. I know that eating just about anything in moderation is okay. It comes down to knowing when to stop. It is much easier to eat just a small portion of something than to try and lose the weight from overindulging. I know what it's like to try and lose weight. I lost 47 pounds in 6 weeks using the Rapidthin diet at www.rapidthin.com. Good luck to all. Use what works for you.

sunny 11-07-2009 @ 6:53PM

Competitive eating is not a sport.
It is a disgusting display of gluttony.
It makes me sick to watch it.
Ugh

Clint 11-07-2009 @ 7:21PM

"Competitive" eating is an embarrassment to this country. They should go put on their disgusting display for some starving third world audiences and see if they feel "competitive" about it afterwards. Should be ashamed.