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UFC Fighter Mackenzie Dern in Bathing Suit is "Amazing"

Here's how she stays fit.

Mackenzie Dern, the professional UFC fighter, loves to go to the beach. Naturally, she loves to break out her swimsuits. Dern just posted a new photo on Instagram of herself lounging in the sand. She wore a bright yellow bathing suit, and captioned the post with a matching heart emoji. "Amazing," said one fan. How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Mackenzie Dern  stays in shape and the photos that prove they work—and to get beach-ready yourself, don't miss these essential 30 Best-Ever Celebrity Bathing Suit Photos!

1

She's Focused

In fighting, it's important to be focused and have the right mindset. Dern tells the NYPost that she always prepares herself for a fight. "I think the mindset needs to be, when I'm going in to fight these girls, they're not thinking about if their daughter's, you know, is their daughter OK? Are they crying? Are they hungry? Or anything like that. They're just focused on beating me, on winning, on [landing] the punches. And so, I think the mindset definitely changed and it's gonna get me there to be champ material.

2

She's Motivated

Louis Grasse/PxImages

Dern has a daughter, and she tells the New York Post that being a mother has made her more motivated. "I'm way more focused. I want to win my fights. I want to do good. I want to have good performances. And having someone depend on you, my daughter, it's not just me."

3

She Builds Muscle

Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images

Being a professional fighter, you have to have muscle. Naturally, Dern tells the NYPost that she does a lot of strength training and building muscle. "I'm getting muscle, I'm working my strength training, and I'm keeping my body fat low. I'm in a way better place now, thankfully." Reminder: "Strength training results in specific physiological adaptations. During the initial phase of a strength-training program, noticeable gains are made due to something called neural adaptability, which is an increase in the recruitment of motor units. As the nervous system becomes more efficient and recruiting more motor units, more force is produced. These initial adaptations are often falsely interpreted as muscle size increases," says ACE Fitness.

4

She Loves The Beach

Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC

Dern loves to spend time at the beach. She tells the New York Post that her ideal day would be, "Go surf then after get a tan. Just relax on the beach tanning. I like to just lay in the sun." "An estimated 1 billion people worldwide, across all ethnicities and age groups, have a vitamin D deficiency (VDD). This pandemic of hypovitaminosis D can mainly be attributed to lifestyle (for example, reduced outdoor activities) and environmental (for example, air pollution) factors that reduce exposure to sunlight, which is required for ultraviolet-B (UVB)-induced vitamin D production in the skin," says one study.

5

She Doesn't Think She'll Meet Her Goals Right Away

Dern is publicly trying to get into a certain weightclass. She tells Gracie Magazine that this is a long process, and that she doesn't expect results right away. "You can't be overconfident," she says. That's what got in my way regarding the scale leading up to UFC 224 in Rio; many unexpected things happened at the camp, but I always remained convinced that I was going to suffer but was going to hit the weight… And in the end, it didn't work out.

Anna Bechtel
Anna Bechtel is a freelance writer currently based in Hamden, CT. Read more
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