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Shaquille O’Neal shaved 50lbs of pandemic weight through 4 workouts a week

Jeet Pukhrambam
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Shaquille O'Neal shaved 50lbs of pandemic weight through 4 workouts a week

NBA Players are supreme athletes, even if they reach the ripe old age of 50. Shaquille O’Neal showed off this capacity by shedding 50lbs!

Athletes, especially professional athletes can get in shape fairly quickly. No matter the age or current status, they have the experience and the ability to gain or lose weight rather quickly.

This is very evident in their transformation from when they were in their rookie years to their primes. NBA players especially have gone from looking skinny to putting on pounds and pounds of muscle.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, is one example but perhaps the biggest one is Shaquille O’Neal. The center arrived in the league slender and strong, and he was dominant almost off the bat.

However, he rapidly gained weight and started to increase his explosive strength along with a supreme ability to score in the post. There was no stopping him.

During his career, he went from 290lbs during his rookie year to a whopping 395lbs during his final year with the Lakers. The drastic loss and gain helped him adjust his game to a great degree and exploit his opponents.

But his real adventure came after retirement and, in fact, it happened just a few months ago.

Also read: “Don’t put anybody on a pedestal!”: $400 million worth Shaquille O’Neal shares how his controversial comments stopped him from being a Trillionaire

Shaquille O’Neal loses more than 50 pounds before turning 50!

As per Shaq himself, he had gained a significant amount of weight during the pandemic. Staying locked up in the house and consuming calories meant that the big man went through a significant weight change.

He decided that he had ballooned enough and didn’t want to be ridiculed for it, *cough* Charles Barkley *cough*. So he put himself through the paces.

As per reports and comments from Jewel Wicker of Men’s Health magazine, Shaq put himself through four workouts per week!

He typically trains four days a week now for about an hour, blasting through 20 minutes of cardio and banging out 40 minutes of strength work.

The goal? Jewel says, “He wants to slim down to 350 pounds and be ripped enough to “go topless” and post an Instagram thirst trap for his 50th birthday in March.”

He also doesn’t want his belly to go over his belly. As per Jewel, “He doesn’t want to develop the dreaded “OTBB,” or “over-the-belt Barkley,” as he puts it.”

It is funny to see this banter between Shaquille and Charles motivate him enough to lose weight. As long as it resulted in something good, it’s great.

Also read: 7ft, 325-pound Shaquille O’Neal really gobbled down a doughnut without even biting into it

    About the author

    Jeet Pukhrambam

    Jeet Pukhrambam

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    Jeet Pukhrambam is The SportsRush's Lead Editor for Basketball. After freelancing for five years as an independent writer, Jeet created thousands of blog posts and articles. He now covers intriguing news reports and throwback stories on all things NBA. His interest in NBA started with the ascendancy of Giannis Antetokounmpo in the 2016-17 season. Since then, Jeet has managed to coalesce his knowledge of the game and his writing to create pieces that are reflective of the current state of the league. Now, he ensures that The SportsRush produces the highest quality of writing. In his free time, he enjoys playing football, cooking, traveling, and dancing to techno. Jeet takes pride in his critical thinking, music playlists, and his love for spaghetti.

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