Arnold Schwarzenegger’s brilliant anecdote about the Shaq

Everything about Shaquille O’Neal exudes excess, to the point that even the biggest stars on the planet are impressed with the four-time champion. Years ago, the great Arnold Schwarzenegger told a crazy story about the Big Diesel… The kind of story so Shaq.

A beautiful baby, that’s how you could describe Shaquille O’Neal on the parquet floors. Endowed with a mind-blowing body mass, which did not however prevent him from being particularly agile for a pivot, the native of Louisiana remains one of the most dominant players in the history of the orange ball. Unsurprisingly, everything that directly or indirectly affected the management of his physique therefore went well beyond the usual framework.

In the middle of all this, we can notably mention his diet. Athletes sometimes consume a lot in order to practice their discipline, but the Hall of Famer was again well above average. Ask Arnold Schwarzenegger! The movie star did not take long before being blown away by what the guy could swallow at the table. Present at Madison Square Garden in 1993 for a Knicks-Magic meeting, he shared the following anecdote with a journalist:

Schwarzenegger: ‘Shaq ate 10 meals in one lunch in front of me’

I think it’s a whole new dimension, with him. He came to Planet Hollywood today, and he had his lunch there in front of me. I’m telling you, the waitresses kept bringing out food, one meal after another, and he must have eaten about ten meals, which is staggering considering how this guy devoured it all.

He burns his calories playing basketball, working out, and all that; that’s why he has such a low body fat percentage, and he looks square in his head. He’s really well-proportioned, and the great thing about it all is that he’s a great, very intelligent guy who has it all figured out. I think he will really go far.

Remember that at the time, the Big Cactus had only been in the league for a few months! Coming from a bodybuilding pundit like Schwarzi was, that says a lot. The latter is also familiar with the forces of nature of the orange ball, having played with Wilt Chamberlain in the film Conan the Destroyer. Suffice to say that seeing O’Neal at the table must have brought back memories…

Clearly, Shaq could impress anyone, if only because of his stomach. If he has paid much more attention to his diet since then, it is not surprising that he left Arnold Schwarzenegger flabbergasted in this way!