Shaquille O’Neal jokes that he used Charles Barkley’s physique as motivation to lose weight

Shaquille O’Neal is choosing sexiness over Charles Barkley’s ‘retirement body.’

The retired Los Angeles Lakers legend recently posted photographs of his shirtless self on Instagram, revealing the formation of six-pack abs on O’Neal’s massive torso.

O’Neal, who has famously battled weight issues both before and after his 2011 retirement, was asked about his motivation on Logan Paul’s podcast.

‘I like to create crazy motivation,’ Shaq said. ‘I was looking at myself and I had that Charles Barkley retirement body.

‘I didn’t want my stomach to be over the belt anymore,’ he continued. ‘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.

‘I was 401 pounds. Now I’m 365. 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.’

Shaq concluded his answer by saying he ‘wants to become a sex symbol.’

O’Neal, who has famously battled weight issues both before and after his 2011 retirement, was asked about his motivation on Logan Paul’s podcast. ‘I like to create crazy motivation,’ Shaq said. ‘I was looking at myself and I had that Charles Barkley (left, right) retirement body. ‘I didn’t want my stomach to be over the belt anymore,’ he continued. ‘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’

O’Neal may have been at his heaviest during his final NBA season as a member of the Celtics

The workouts haven’t been overly complicated, the 50-year-old co-host of TNT’s Inside the NBA told GQ in March.

‘Just cardio — 30-40 minutes — then chest, arms, biceps, triceps,’ O’Neal said. ‘A simple old man workout. I can’t do all that CrossFit stuff.’

He even tried the elliptical machine, but that only made him feel older. 

‘Well, I tried to run the other day and I’m like, “How was I the greatest athlete in the world?” I just lost everything.’

O’Neal has focused more on his health since turning 50, saying that his doctor gave him a scare by diagnosing him with sleep apnea.

O’Neal also complained he was forced to take too many painkillers, although he insists he wasn’t addicted.

‘Certain days when I couldn’t move, I just popped one or two, just to get me going,’ he said. ‘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.’

Barkley (left) and O’Neal (right) were both thinner during their SEC days at Auburn and LSU