Shaquille O’Neal got fit after noticing his physique resembled Charles Barkley’s bod

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Everyone knows Shaquille O’Neal is a big guy.

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But the former NBA star knew he had to drop some pounds after realizing his body was starting to look like Charles Barkley’s.

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Shaq spoke about his impressive weight loss on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast.

“I like to create crazy motivation,” he told Paul. “I was looking at myself and I had that Charles Barkley retirement body.”

He explained, “I didn’t want my stomach to be over the belt anymore. So I was just like, ‘Let me go ahead and get slim.’

“After that [picture] went viral, now I’ve got to live up to it,” the 50-year-old said, referencing a video clip he posted on Instagram last month that showed off his six-pack.

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“I was 401 pounds. Now I’m 365,” Shaq revealed. “I’m trying to take it back to 345. I want to have muscles everywhere, and I want to do an underwear ad with my sons [for] Fruit of the Loom, baby.”

He also added that he “wants to become a sex symbol.”

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The Hall of Famer doesn’t go over-the-top, just 30 to 40 minutes of cardio, then works on his “chest arms, biceps, triceps,” he told GQ earlier this year.

Shaq called it his “simple old man workout” – because he “can’t do all that CrossFit stuff.”

He said he began taking his health more seriously after his doctor diagnosed him with sleep apnea.

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Shaq also admitted to being dependent on painkillers, but clarified he was not addicted.

“Certain days when I couldn’t move, I just popped one or two, just to get me going. But I’m off that now,” O’Neal said.

“I had to really get checked out. When they hit you with that three-letter word that starts with D and ends with E, it changes stuff up.”