Around this time four years ago, Gunna was nearly four months into a Fulton County Jail stint after a massive 56-count RICO indictment alleged that he and 27 others, including labelmate and collaborator Young Thug, were part of the Young Slime Life gang.
In December of that year, the Atlanta rapper, born Sergio Kitchens, was released after entering a negotiated guilty plea known as the Alford plea, while maintaining his innocence.
Memes, beef and factions against him followed. Most, including fellow Atlanta rappers Young Thug and Lil Baby, have either implied that Gunna was a “rat” or “snitch” for his decision or called him that outright. Gunna never testified in the lengthy YSL trial nor was his plea used against the remaining defendants.
Offline, Gunna blocked out all the noise by embarking on a rigorous fitness journey, running 1-3 miles each day. While touring behind his latest album “The Last Wun,” last year, the four-time Grammy nominee hosted several 5K runs, known as the Wunna Run Club — proving that his run on the Billboard charts is as indomitable as his run to maintain a healthy lifestyle and inspire others to do so.
Credit: Desmond Kye
Credit: Desmond Kye
The first one occurred last September in Brooklyn, New York. Roughly 2,000 people joined. Runs in Atlanta, Houston and Toronto were held in 2025. Another debuted in South Africa earlier this year. On Sunday, Gunna returns to his hometown for another 5K run. Hosted by the Atlanta Run Club, the event will start at mixed-use development Lee & White off the Westside Beltline. Proceeds from the run go to his Gunna’s Great Giveaway, the rapper’s nonprofit that helps families in his native South Fulton neighborhood.
“My vision is coming to life,” Gunna told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution via Zoom about his fitness movement.
Gunna was recently named Under Armour’s global brand ambassador, dropping a sportswear collection with the athleisure company titled P-Star.
But while he’s excited to talk about his health initiatives, he’s not yet ready to share details about new music projects. Gunna readily gave several details about what’s next for him musically while talking with the AJC, but shortly after, his team asked for those plans not to be shared publicly. Last August, he dropped “The Last Wun,” which boasted the Burna Boy-assisted hit “WGFT.”
Throughout the interview, he was adamant about wanting to stay busy. “I feel like I got my hands in a lot. It’s not just one thing.”
The AJC talked to Gunna about building community through fitness and learning to balance that lifestyle with the grind of being a chart-topping musician.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity
Q: How were you introduced to running and what made you want to take it seriously?
A: What introduced me to running was me hitting this trail that was in my backyard when I was staying in Arizona when I first got out of jail, and it really was just something to do to get my mind off everything else. From running, I started actually working out, getting with my trainer Dustin (Enriquez), and just kind of locking in with him.
Then all of a sudden, I just started bringing community together with what I was doing. I just wanted to do something for my side in Atlanta, and it ended up just starting to be like a worldwide run. We running everywhere.
Q: What’s your typical workout routine?
A: I run, do a mile and a half. Then, I do core and weights. Then, I alternate the next day and do weights. If I don’t do weights, I do boxing. So I do full body every day, but I don’t lift every day.
Credit: Desmond Kye
Credit: Desmond Kye
Q: Do you work out in the mornings?
A: I typically work out every morning. I don’t use an alarm. My body just wakes me up.
Q: How early are you waking up?
A: Like 8:30, because I get to the gym no later than 9:30. Sometimes I might wake up at 7:30, and I’m like, should I call my trainer? Like, man, just meet me up here early today, cause I don’t want to sit in the bed too long. I really just go ahead and go to the gym.
Q: Do you incorporate a healthy diet into your routine?
A: I try. I don’t eat perfect every day. My main thing is to stay away from carbs, so I try to really not eat carbs at all. Some days when I want to have me a cheat day, I eat me a little sweet or whatever I might be craving, but my main thing is just stay away from carbs and drink a lot of water. Then I got my other routines with juices when I’m at home. When I’m able to reset at home, I got a whole better schedule for me when I’m at home versus when I’m on the road.
Q: What made you want to continue Wunna Run Club?
A: I think it was just the outcome, just seeing how the people came out, and it wasn’t for a show. It was for a run, and it was all community. I was inspired, as well. It wasn’t supposed to be like what (it became). It was all just like, let’s just get community together. Now it’s a whole run club, and we want to continue to do it for the rest of our lives.
Q: That’s important because a lot of Black male rappers are dying young, not making it to their 40s or 50s.
A: I definitely feel like we all should kind of try to beat those statistics. The next generation, even after us, should be even more healthy. Why not live longer and be able to enjoy it?
Credit: Desmond Kye
Credit: Desmond Kye
Q: How does your fitness regimen inform your creativity as a musician?
A: I’m more disciplined. It helps more when I’m performing. I can kind of perform longer. I got more energy. I feel like it also still challenges me because, like, I’m so disciplined now. I gotta get up, or I want to make sure I get up at a certain time. So it’s like you gotta cut times at the studio. And you don’t want to cut too much in your creative (life), so you got to really know how to balance being able to be healthy and still be a creative, too.
Q: Do you have a favorite place to run in Atlanta?
A: It’s not even like favorite places for real. I mean, like the Beltline is cool, but I can run in a lot of different places. I like to run in places that are new to me. I feel like I can run longer (there).
Q: Is there like a new place that you’ve tried recently?
A: I did. I was running in Mayfair, London. You can kind of like really get you some wind and see different spots. It was a cool scenic route.
Q: Who’s on your workout playlist?
A: I like to listen to music I just did at the studio last night. I’m still trying to be creative in that space, so I like to hear beats that I might have just been working on last night or an idea I walked through, and I’m just kind of running and thinking about what I might have said to this.
When I’m running, I’m just thinking, so I thought that’d be cool for me to just play my unreleased music and like I’m like thinking about, ‘Oh let me add this,’ or, ‘Oh when I get back to the studio tonight, I want to hear this. Oh, I meant to tell him this, and I thought I told him this. He didn’t do this.’ I’m just critiquing the music.
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
Credit: Ryan Fleisher
Q: How would you describe the last four years of your life?
A: Just focused. I’ve been focused the past four years, and walking the straight and narrow. I got my tunnel vision on. I’ve been just locked in.
Q: Has your relationship with the city changed at all, or will the love be there for Atlanta always?
A: Why would it change? You know, it’s always been the same. Why would it change?
Q: I mean, there’s been a lot of mess (concerning your name here), so that’s why I was wondering what does that look like for you?
A: It’s been good every time I go home. My shows have been sold out. It’s been great.
IF YOU GO
Wunna Run Club
8:30 a.m. check-in. 10:30 a.m. start. Sunday. $50. Lee & White. 929 Lee Street SW, 1070 White St. Atlanta. wunnarunclub.com.
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