How to get impeccably chiseled abs like UFC lightweight star Drew Dober

• Drew Dober, a lightweight UFC fighter, has chiseled six-pack abs.
• He said the key to getting abs like his is being miserable.

LAS VEGAS — The secret to getting great abdominal muscles is, according to UFC lightweight fighter Drew Dober, being miserable.

"Unfortunately, [the trick is] not eating," the 34-year-old told Insider ahead of his last fight, a second-round knockout win over Bobby Green at the Apex in Las Vegas.

"Unfortunately, [the trick is] avoiding happiness," he said with his signature smile. "I'm jacked right now, and I hate it!

"So, I can't wait to put some pounds back on. But being shredded and happy seem not to coexist."

If you knew only a few things about Dober, you'd know he's as chiseled as he is handsome.

And though he walks through a fight week looking happy, when it's time to fight he comes armed with metaphorical hammers and views his opponents as nails.

Dober is a 38-fight veteran in mixed martial arts and is riding a three-fight win streak because of victories in the last 12 months over Terrance McKinney, Rafael Alves, and Green.

His jawline is as famous in combat sports as his abs.

So, aside from being miserable, what really is the trick to getting a sweet-looking stomach like his?

Insider asked two of the UFC's top strength and conditioning coaches at the company's state-of-the-art Performance Institute to find out.

'A lot of crunches, a lot of planks'

"That's a tough one — Drew Dober," PI strength and conditioning coach Becky Summers said.

In 2020, Dober memorably fought on the undercard of Conor McGregor's smash-and-grab victory over Donald Cerrone. Dober impressively destroyed Nasrat Haqparast with a crafty left hand, held him down with one fist, and then punched him 11 times while he lay near-defenseless on the ground.

"If you couldn't tell by his fight style he's a go-getter," Summers told Insider. "He's all in, and all out. So I feel like that kind of comes with this lifestyle."

For anyone who wants to replicate Dober's abs at home, it's "mainly about what you eat," Summer said. "Then, of course — the exercises."

Summers said: "You can think of a lot of crunches, and a lot of planks."

The key steps to planking are:

1. Assume a push-up position but rest your weight on your forearms (like in the picture, above).
2. Straighten your body, keep your abs tight, and clench your glutes.
3. Hold the position for as long as you can.

The key steps to crunches:

1. Lie on your back (like in the picture above) and take note of hip and foot placement, with feet planted on the floor.
2. With your knees bent, and arms placed across your chest, lift your upper body by tightening your core. The routine should be similar to a sit up.
3. Hold the position for a few seconds.
4. Lower yourself back to starting position and repeat for 10-12 reps.

Sit-ups are an oft-cited exercise one can drill to best show off your abs; however, Gavin Pratt, who is the director of strength and conditioning at the UFC's Performance Institute, said: "You could get abs without doing sit-ups."

Is there a shortcut we hadn't heard about? "Uh," Pratt said. "Definitely not."

You've still got to do strength training, Pratt said, as well as cardio

"You need to do some things like squats, heavy squats," Pratt told Insider. Resistance training with exercises that target that area also works.

"If you want to get abs and biceps, you've got to do strength training," he said. "Strength training for a number of reasons. Obviously, it changes your lean muscle mass but in turn your body composition."

This leads to a greater increase of lean muscle, Pratt said, and decreases body fat.

For Pratt, there is also "a really boring answer" which is cardiovascular training.

He said: "One way to think about it is — if you've got a sweater on, and you say, 'I want to see abs,' we have to lift the sweater up, right?

"But that's your body fat … the sweater is your body fat. We've got to get rid of the body fat before you see that."

We've all got abs, Pratt said. "Some people can see them, some people can't."

So a combination of strength training, cardio, and yes, diet, are the essential ingredients for showing off the abs that we all have under our sweaters of fat.

Diet, and consistency, are keys to success

Summers told Insider there's math to think about, too.

"If we're looking at total calorie expenditure and stuff like that, we've got to kind of have that balance of, what I eat versus what I burn."

The muscle groups you want to target — in this case, abdominal — should be worked three times per week "at the minimum," Summers told us. "And then, of course, five at the max, if you can.

"If I'm looking at MMA fighters, I'm always thinking about over-training. So if you're an MMA fighter, don't overtrain to get the abs that [Dober] has.

"Just, you know, keep doing what you're doing. Add a couple of exercises that are particular to that body part. And then, of course, diet."

Insider told Summers about Dober's comment that the key to getting good abs is being miserable.

"And that's the diet part, right?" she laughed.

Above all, though, be consistent.

"Consistency is number one," Pratt said. "There's a difference between your dedication and your motivation."

Sometimes motivation can wane but the difference between professional athletes like MMA fighters and recreational gym-goers is that the fighters remain dedicated to putting in the work, regardless of whether they feel like it or not on any given day.

"That's what these guys and girls have. They've got the dedication to the cause because they train hard a lot of the time and you just have to keep repeating it."

You can still eat donuts if you want, albeit in moderation

Though Dober is one of the athletes on UFC's roster who looks shredded come fight night, he does not deprive himself of sugary foods away from the Octagon.

Even when you're training with a specific goal in mind, like drilling ab routines, you don't have to deprive yourselves of certain things, Dober said.

It's all about being "mindful," according to Dober.

"I eat donuts," he said. "Just be mindful, intentional, and conscious. On a Wednesday, do we need the croissant? Or can we wait until Saturday? I think, overall, peace of mind comes from being mindful of actions."

Dober is in his mid-30s and arguably has a physique that is more impressive than the one he had when he was in his 20s.

Finishing, he said the key to leveling up one's fitness in their 30s is to "keep the passion, excitement, and the quest to improve, but use the intelligence you have in your 30s.

"I feel like the 20s are all piss and vinegar and not a lot of intelligence," he said. "I maintain the piss and vinegar and I just supplemented it with a little bit more intelligence and experience."

Dober is expected to return to the UFC's Octagon against a to-be-determined opponent in April.