“My Dad’s So Old And Fat”: Shaqir Hilariously Goes At Father Shaquille O’Neal In The Gym

The bond between a father and son knows no bounds. Most of the time, that comes from a place of sincerity, but sometimes it comes from a place of silliness. Shaquille O’Neal and his youngest son, Shaqir, fall into the latter category. The two proved this with a series of recent social media posts while pumping steel at the gym.

The Diesel loves working out. Back in 2021, he really got into a habit of getting into shape and cutting out his unhealthy diet.

Instead of eating a sandwich five times a day, the Hall of Famer would instead replace that with a protein shake, a salad, chicken, fish, and other healthy substitutes in very small portions. At one point, Shaq had dropped 40 pounds and developed a six-pack. He’s been a gym-head ever since.

So when O’Neal and his 22-year-old son were working out together, it was a time for focus and not fun. But Shaqir felt differently. A video has since surfaced on Shaq’s IG showing Shaqir roasting his dad as he was doing crunches.

“My dad’s so old and fat he does crunches with his eyes closed,” he said with a smile. The camera then panned over to reveal that Shaq was indeed crunching with his eyes closed. Shaqir made him pay for the moment by sticking his butt very close to his dad’s head. When Shaq realized what was going on, the laughter that erupted shows that his kids have just as twisted of a sense of humor as he does.

Shaq on IG pic.twitter.com/W7T06UI9nc

— tragicpatek (@tragicpatek) July 11, 2025

It was a humorous moment between the two. And the fun didn’t end there either. A second video, which was also posted on Shaq’s IG story, showed him making a declaration for all the dads out there, and it had to do with being strong.

“To all the fathers out there. If you can’t pick up your youngest son, you’re not a real dad,” claimed The Diesel. To prove his point, he then picked up Shaqir and curled him.  “I’ll always be daddy,” he added as he held the 22-year-old in his arms.

While one can observe this clip for Shaq just being a goof, it’s actually quite impressive. At 53 years old, he is still quite strong. He may not move like he did back in his Orlando Magic days, but his dominance is still very apparent.

Shaq proved this back in 2021, right when he got back into shape. He did a short wrestling stint with the promotion AEW, where he wrestled in a tag team match alongside Jade Cargill against top industry star Cody Rhodes. At one point, The Diesel, much like Big Daddy Cool Diesel, dropped Rhodes with a sinister powerbomb, proving that he was not only a terrific pro wrestler, but still super strong in the process.

This will hardly be the last video that Shaq and Shaqir post together. But who knows if there will ever be one that is this fun?

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

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