Michael Jordan is believed to be one of the most gifted athletes the sporting world has ever seen. Jordan’s 6’6 height and 216 lbs weight allowed him to pull off moves that other athletes would find quite testing. As per former Bulls doctor John Hefferon, MJ’s naturally athletic body allowed him to ignore the strict fitness and diet routines that athletes have to adhere to. Meanwhile, Jordan liked to resort to junk food and smoking cigars while playing golf. But after being knocked out for three straight seasons in the playoffs by the ‘Bad Boys’ Detroit Pistons, Jordan made a routine change and started working out in the 1989-90 season. During his early days of working out, a highly competitive Michael Jordan was once left perplexed by a teammate he ‘didn’t respect’ for a very specific reason.

?During his early years, Michael Jordan was not too invested in strength training. He was described as a ‘junk food addict who probably took in more grease a year than a squeaky joint’?in one of the most famous books about his journey to winning the first championship with the Bulls. However, the Bulls legend made a big change in his routine to work on his post-up move after falling short in the playoffs several times.

Michael Jordan got trashed by a teammate he disliked

As per Sam Smith’s 1991 book The Jordan Rules, Michael Jordan hired a personal trainer who traveled with the Chicago Bulls team on the road. Moreover, Jordan set a culture in the Bulls locker room to ‘harass one another verbally’. MJ liked to trash-talk his teammate Horace Grant who never missed an opportunity to give it back.?

Meanwhile, by 1990-1991, Jordan had started lifting weights regularly and got his weight over 210 lbs. As expected, Jordan turned working out into a weight-lifting competition with his teammates. The word from the Bulls locker room was that Horace Grant and Jordan’s teammate Will Purdue[‘whom Jordan didn’t respect’, according to Smith’s book] had been working out longer than Jordan. The fact made former Bulls trainer Al Vermeil feel that it would take Jordan a few years to get to Perdue’s level.

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According to Smith, this fact prompted a jibe from Perdue against MJ, “Wouldn’t the team just love if he got a hernia trying to lift more than me?”, said Perdue. “They’ll probably blame me.”

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The concerns about Michael Jordan injuring himself prompted the Bulls team management to bring in some experts to supervise MJ’s strength training. Meanwhile, Jordan could not respond back to Perdue’s comments because he knew his teammate was right about how invested the Bulls ownership was in his health.