Michael Jordan always ate the same food as his pre-workout meal which wouldn't be allowed in NBA today

Michael Jordan loved a certain meal so much that he ate it before every workout, according to his former colleague.

Jordan, 62, is widely considered to be the greatest of all time (GOAT) and is arguably one of the most popular sportspeople of all time.

Even the greats of the modern game – such as LeBron James and Steph Curry – will no doubt look to Jordan for inspiration and even advice.

Jordan can stand alongside the likes of footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, NFL star Tom Brady and other sporting greats such as Usain Bolt as being the best to ever compete in his sport.

And given his Hall of Fame status, it would be wise to assume that the 62-year-old was a stickler for routine, and this was exactly the case but not in the way you might expect.

Jordan would reportedly eat the exact same meal before he went out onto the court, but his choice of food was far from that associated with high-level performance.

Former teammate Charles Oakley revealed exactly what Jordan would eat before practice.

Michael Jordan is a basketball icon (Credit:Getty)

“We ate a lot of McDonald's back then," Oakley said when speaking on the ‘All THE SMOKE’ podcast. "MJ ate McDonald's every morning for breakfast. Every morning. And before games, he'd eat a steak."

However, according to the Basketball Network, Jordan tried to change his ways by hiring personal trainer Tim Grover, who restructured the former NBA star’s eating habits to five or six small meals per day.

But Jordan’s love for McDonald’s remained. During the peak of his popularity in the early ‘90s, the fast-food chain released a burger in his honour, dubbed the ‘McJordan’ meal.

The offering was made up of a cheeseburger on a sesame bun, which featured pickles, raw onions, bacon, mustard, and barbeque sauce.

The meal was priced at $1.89 and initially could only be purchased in branches within the Chicago area before McDonald’s began to serve it in other areas of the US.

Grover discussed Jordan’s eating habits with the Chicago Tribune via [YardBarker] back in 1996.

“Michael is not a big eater,” Grover said. “He eats only when he’s hungry and only until he feels comfortable rather than full.”

“If he were to eat a big breakfast and then not have any food again until after practice, say around 3 p.m., then his insulin and energy levels would raise up in the morning for a while but crash in the afternoon,” Grover explained. “It could affect his mood along with his activity level.”