Adrien Nunez doesn’t fake that tour life is simple. Between lengthy journey days, late-night performances, and fixed schedule adjustments, construction can really feel practically unattainable to keep up. However for the previous basketball participant turned artist, self-discipline isn’t about excellent circumstances; it’s about consistency.
Muscle & Health caught up with Nunez at Stagecoach throughout a TikTok interview to speak all issues coaching, routine, and the way he stays grounded whereas balancing life on the street and within the studio.
Rooted in his athletic background, Nunez has constructed a routine that adapts to wherever he’s, prioritizing consistency over depth. Whether or not it’s a fast exercise between soundcheck and stage time or a full coaching cut up when he’s dwelling, his strategy to health is much less about aesthetics and extra about efficiency, readability, and longevity.
Adapting His Coaching to the Highway
There’s no overly structured cut up guiding his exercises on the street, and there’s no obsession with monitoring each rep or chasing numbers for the sake of development. As an alternative, his coaching strategy is formed fully by what’s accessible within the second and what realistically matches into the calls for of the day. Flexibility turns into the construction.
“Most days it’s one thing fast,” he explains. “I’ll run, hit half-hour on the StairMaster, or get a elevate in if there’s a gymnasium.”
It’s easy by design. Nothing about it’s meant to be flashy or overly sophisticated. On tour, the objective shifts away from bodily transformation and turns into far more purposeful. “It’s not glamorous,” he provides in reflection, “nevertheless it works.”
When he’s dwelling, that total rhythm adjustments.
“That’s after I actually go in,” he says. “I’ll do an hour on the courtroom, then an hour lifting. 5 days per week.”
At dwelling, construction returns in a approach that isn’t potential on the street. The coaching turns into extra deliberate, extra aggressive, and extra layered. Basketball periods carry again the aggressive basis he constructed his identification on, whereas lifting periods add the power and conditioning component that helps every part else he does.
“You simply learn to alter,” he provides. “That’s the most important factor.”
That distinction between the 2 is intentional. It prevents stagnation whereas additionally defending him from overtraining in a high-demand life-style.
The Athlete Mindset That Nonetheless Drives Him
Lengthy earlier than music ever entered the image, Nunez was residing in a totally completely different world. One constructed on basketball, competitors, and repetition. It was an area outlined by construction and accountability, the place effort confirmed up daily whether or not you felt prefer it or not. Although his profession path has shifted dramatically since then, that athlete mentality by no means actually left him.
You may nonetheless see it in how he trains, and you’ll nonetheless hear it in how he talks about self-discipline and ambition. It additionally exhibits up in the best way he strikes by way of his schedule, particularly when issues get unpredictable. There’s a sure competitiveness beneath every part he does, even outdoors of sports activities.
When requested a couple of dream stage or final efficiency second, he doesn’t pause or overthink it.
“The Tremendous Bowl,” he says. “That may be loopy.”
For him, it’s not simply concerning the spectacle of acting on one of many largest phases on this planet. It’s additionally about what that second represents. It displays the identical mindset athletes carry once they speak about championships, high-stakes environments, peak stress, and the chance to carry out when it issues most.
“I believe that athlete mindset by no means actually leaves you,” he says. “Even after I transitioned into music, I nonetheless strategy every part like I’m making ready for a recreation. It’s about exhibiting up, doing the work, and being prepared when it’s time to carry out. Whether or not that’s on stage or on the courtroom, I’ve at all times been wired to compete. I like being in environments the place there’s stress, the place you need to earn it daily. That’s what retains me locked in.”
That aggressive edge additionally exhibits up in how he engages with sports activities off the sphere. When he builds his excellent basketball lineup, his selections are rooted in respect for greatness. He names Steph Curry, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, and Shaquille O’Neal as his dream 5, combining completely different eras, enjoying kinds, and ranges of dominance into one lineup.
“That’s simply enjoyable to consider,” he says. “I’ve at all times been into basketball like that.”
Whilst his profession has developed, basketball hasn’t turn into one thing he left behind, it’s nonetheless actively a part of his identification. It capabilities as extra than simply cardio or an off-the-cuff passion. It’s a reference level for a way he thinks about teamwork, effort, and competitors.
And that connection turns into much more apparent when he’s round different artists who share that very same vitality. He factors to Kane Brown as one in every of his go-to folks with regards to hooping and coaching.
“We’ve been enjoying at his home,” he says. “He can actually play, too.”
In these moments, the overlap between music and athletics turns into clear once more. It’s not nearly staying energetic, it’s about staying related to the mindset that formed him lengthy earlier than the stage ever did.
Coaching Via Unpredictability One of many clearest examples of Nunez’s adaptability got here throughout a gaggle run, Stryde Social, in Nashville with different artists, together with Russell Dickerson. What was alleged to be a typical outside coaching session shortly become one thing much more intense and unpredictable.
“We had been simply on the market working, every part felt regular at first,” he remembers. “Then out of nowhere, a storm rolled in. It went from sunny skies to utterly darkish in like 10 minutes.”
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What adopted escalated quick. The wind picked up with sufficient power to noticeably affect motion, visibility dropped to the purpose the place it turned tough to see forward, and avenue fixtures started to sway underneath the stress. Then the rain become hail, shifting your complete dynamic of the exercise in actual time.
“It was actually form of insane,” he says. “We needed to duck underneath a bridge simply to remain protected for a minute as a result of it acquired that severe.”
For most individuals, that form of climate shift could be the sign to cease instantly and name it a day. However in true athlete mentality vogue, the expertise didn’t utterly shut the session down, it simply modified it. The group adjusted on the fly, regrouped, and handled it as a part of the coaching surroundings reasonably than an interruption to it.
“That’s the factor about coaching with different artists,” he provides. “You simply adapt to no matter’s occurring within the second, and you retain going anyway. It’s by no means actually excellent circumstances, so that you learn to work with no matter you get.”
Why Group Issues Extra Than Motivation
Regardless of the self-discipline he holds himself to, Nunez doesn’t have a look at health as one thing that must be executed in isolation. For him, coaching has at all times been tied to different folks, construction, and shared effort reasonably than particular person motivation alone.
“I like coaching with folks,” he says. “That’s how I grew up: basketball, teammates, at all times pushing one another.”
That surroundings formed how he views effort. In his expertise, consistency is less complicated to keep up when there’s another person within the room holding the identical commonplace. It creates a pure sense of accountability, nevertheless it additionally provides vitality to the method. As an alternative of exercises feeling like one thing he has to get by way of alone, they turn into shared experiences that carry a distinct stage of depth.
“Going by way of it alone isn’t as enjoyable,” he admits. “It’s simply higher when everybody’s in it collectively and also you’re all form of in the identical headspace.”
That mindset doesn’t cease at coaching. It extends into how he operates creatively and the way he manages his total well-being. Whether or not it’s music, efficiency, or psychological well being, he tends to gravitate towards environments the place there’s connection and assist reasonably than full independence.
Managing the Emotional Highs and Lows
The fact of the music business is that it runs on extremes. One evening you’re performing in entrance of hundreds of individuals with every part feeling amplified, and the subsequent second you’re again alone in a quiet room or a shifting bus attempting to come back down from that vitality. For Nunez, that transition is likely one of the most tough components of the approach to life.
“That post-show feeling is intense,” he says. “You go from hundreds of individuals and all that vitality to simply being by your self once more. It’s a extremely huge shift.”
Over time, he’s realized there isn’t an ideal strategy to easy out that emotional drop. As an alternative, it’s one thing he manages by way of small habits and intentional restoration selections reasonably than attempting to eradicate it fully.
A kind of instruments is magnesium, which he makes use of as a part of his nighttime routine to assist his physique calm down and transition out of efficiency mode.
“It helps me wind down at evening,” he says. “That post-show vitality doesn’t simply disappear immediately, so I want one thing that helps me settle.”
Past restoration routines, he additionally depends on a mindset he’s constructed by way of coaching: concentrate on what he can management and cease over-attaching to what he can’t. That strategy turns into particularly necessary in conditions the place outcomes are unsure. That was the case through the rollout of his collaboration with Diplo, which stretched throughout months of back-and-forth and uncertainty. At varied factors, he genuinely wasn’t certain if the file would ever be launched.
“I assumed it won’t even come out at one level,” he admits.
Fairly than getting emotionally locked into the end result, he deliberately stepped again from expectations. That wasn’t about decreasing ambition; it was about defending his mindset.
“I saved my expectations low,” he says. “That approach, I wouldn’t get caught up within the ready or overthink it if issues modified.”
That perspective ended up being grounding. It allowed him to remain regular by way of delays and shifting timelines, and in the end helped him deal with the second when the challenge lastly did transfer ahead with out emotional whiplash.
The Interior Circle That Retains Him Grounded
In an business the place opinions are fixed and infrequently unavoidable, Nunez is intentional about who he permits into his decision-making course of. Over time, he’s realized that not each voice deserves equal weight, particularly when the noise is nonstop.
“Everybody has an opinion,” he says. “You may’t take all of it in, otherwise you’d lose your self in it.” As an alternative, he retains a good internal circle made up of household, shut pals, and his girlfriend, individuals who perceive him past his profession and aren’t influenced by outdoors notion.
“They’re those I belief,” he says. “Every part else is secondary in comparison with that.”
That group serves as extra than simply emotional assist. It capabilities as a grounding system that helps him filter choices, keep balanced, and keep perspective when issues transfer shortly.
His relationship, specifically, has turn into a steadying power in his day-to-day life. It supplies consistency in an surroundings that’s in any other case always shifting.
“She’s tremendous supportive,” he says. “She understands the approach to life and what comes with it, which makes an enormous distinction.”
What stands out most for him, although, is that the assist isn’t passive; it’s shared.
Even health has turn into one thing they actively do collectively reasonably than individually. Over time, that shared routine has created one other layer of alignment of their relationship. “She didn’t actually prepare earlier than,” he says. “However now she’s within the gymnasium persistently, and that’s one thing I actually worth.”
From basketball standout on the College of Michigan to one in every of nation music’s fastest-rising names, Adrien Nunez has constructed his profession on adaptability, self-discipline, and a willingness to evolve. After first gaining traction on-line for championing rising nation artists and serving to amplify breakout data throughout social media, Nunez has stepped absolutely into his personal highlight with a quickly rising music profession that now contains greater than 182 million world streams, a spot on Amazon Music’s 2025 Nation Warmth Artists to Watch record, and performances on a few of the style’s largest phases, together with Stagecoach.
Following the discharge of his Don’t Wanna Go House EP and a headline tour run throughout the U.S., Nunez continues to show that the identical mindset that after fueled him on the basketball courtroom now drives him by way of each a part of his profession. “I believe every part is tied collectively,”
Nunez provides. “The best way you prepare, the best way you deal with your self, your routine, your psychological well being, all of it impacts the way you present up daily.”
