“Shaquille O’Neal at 7’1, 305 pounds, and 7.5% body fat is another dimension!”: Arnold Schwarzenegger was astonished at Lakers legend’s physique

Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn’t help but be amazed at Shaquille O’Neal and his insane body stats in relation to his physique. 

Shaquille O’Neal came out of LSU looking like the second coming of Wilt Chamberlain. Like Wilt, Shaq could run the floor, had an incredible vertical, possessed dense muscle, and of course, was as dominant as could be in the paint. Much of their dominance can be attributed to the fact that they were unicorns in relation to their physiques. 

No man who was O’Neal’s size should’ve been able to move the way he did. His years with the Orlando Magic were quite the anomaly as he had the brute strength to rip down a hoop but the agility and quickness to bring the ball up the floor all by himself. 

Of course, his time with the Los Angeles Lakers resulted in him losing focus on his weight as he would gain 50 pounds between their first championship in 2000 and their third championship in 2002. However, his Orlando days saw post up quite the different physique.

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Shaquille O’Neal impresses Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

If there is one person whose approval in terms of physique would mean the world to anybody, its Arnold Schwarzenegger’s opinion. The 7x Mr. Olympia winner made a name for himself in the 1970s and eventually made his way to Hollywood by the time the 80s rolled around. 

His acting career proved to be successful and so rubbing shoulders with stars all across the United States was quite the regular occurrence for him. In one such instance, he would show up to a Knicks-Magic game and while sitting courtside, was asked by a reporter on what his thoughts were regarding Shaquille O’Neal and his physique. 

“I think this is a whole new dimension. He came over today to Planet Hollywood and he ate his lunch. I’m telling you, the waitresses went and kept feeding him one meal after the other. He must’ve eaten like 10 meals.” 

“Staggering, the way this guy devoured and he burns it off by playing basketball and practicing and that’s why he has such a low percentage of body fat,” said Arnold.

Also read: Shaquille O’Neal once laid out Charles Barkley, and it did NOT look like a mistake on $600 million man’s part

Shaq recently talked about his fitness journey in his late 40s, says that he lost 10lbs after reaching a body fat percentage of around 14.5%.