“I’m the worst yoga student in the history of yoga”: Shaquille O’Neal Once Needed a Custom 100-inch Mat to Try Out Ancient Indian Exercise

Yoga, the ancient Indian exercise has been widely adopted across the world over the last few decades. Known for its various health benefits, practicing yoga can cleanse your mind and body. So naturally, even someone like Shaquille O’Neal would want to give it a try.

O’Neal, who is unusually large, standing at 7-foot tall and weighing 325 lbs (at the time), had a hard time performing the exercises.

Now as athletic as he may be, O’Neal cannot do yoga because that requires you to be nimble, flexible, and agile. Terms that we do not associate Shaq with.

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“I’m the worst yoga student in the history of yoga”: Shaquille O’Neal’s yoga ordeal was hilarious and uplifting

In his own words at a yoga class in suburban Cleveland, Shaq said, “I’m the worst yoga student in the history of yoga”. We are not at all surprised by that.

A giant man, who has only slowed down throughout his career and relies on his prowess in the paint, could not have been nimble.

The yoga teacher too was quite vocal about O’Neal. Tami Schneider, the studio’s owner said, “He’s got some tight hamstrings”. She added, “He’s obviously a big, strong man. He told me he doesn’t stretch very often and that was pretty apparent. I’m looking forward to working with him to get him into some deeper stretches.”.

We don’t actually know if Shaq went back to the studio, but the ordeal was funny and there’s more!

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The studio apparently needed 2 mats for Shaquille O’Neal and they planned to get a special mat for his next session

Shaq is big, 7-foot tall, and weighing 325 lbs at the time, and he needs more than one yoga mat. 2, in fact.

The studio also decided that in order to help out O’Neal, they would pull out a custom 100-inch mat for the Lakers legend.

Whether or not that ordeal had any benefit for Shaq is uncertain. But as of today, more than a decade later, O’Neal is back on a path to getting fitter. He has set his eyes on obtaining abs and even at this age, it looks more than likely.

Although, yoga might not be on the cards for the “worst yoga student in the history of yoga”.

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