As a hereditary guru on eating Homerus americanus, I recommend folks bring one more tool to a lobster feed … kitchen shears!
The best way of eating our New England red bug is to turn the Homer on its back. Insert a scissors into the tiny circle just above the flippers
at the end of the tale (this picture has it WRONG!). Then cut the critter open all the way to its head. Use both hands, on on either side and crack
it open!
The only problem with this approach is the tail meat comes out in one whole, delicious gulp! If you eat it too quickly you lose the advantage of calories lost by less efficient approaches.
Traditional nut crackers are OK for breaking the claws but again 
(unless the shell is too hard) sheers do a better job of giving you meat with less burning of calories.
(unless the shell is too hard) sheers do a better job of giving you meat with less burning of calories.If the shell is soft enough, you can get some meat out of the swimmerets, the tiny legs on each side, by putting then between your front teeth and squeaking the meat as it were in a tooth paste tube.
The best way to burn more calories is to make a serious effort at getting the small buts of meat out to the gills using a lobster pick.