A 40-year-old St.Louis man who fought a bitter divorce and struggled to gain custody of his kids has spoken out about his transformation from chubby to absolutely shredded, in a bid to get his life together.
Two years ago, Keith Rocheville found his life in dire straights. His marriage was ending, and he fell so far behind on his support payment for his two teenage kids, that the court deemed it a felony.
Speaking to Daily Mail Online, Keith said:
Trying to save the marriage and family I had, I used what little I made to pay our bills. We owned a really reasonably nice home, the only I had ever owned. Our marriage just couldn’t be saved, and I eventually fell so far behind in support the state charged me with a felony.
I was depressed, in the worst ways. I couldn’t leave the house. I basically stayed in a room all day, walked to the corner if I bummed $5 from my mom. I was 38. Pathetic.
After his licence was revoked for not paying child support, Keith was forced to move back in with his parents in California. Unfortunately for Keith, things were still getting worse.
He began seeing an on-again-off-again old flame during his divorce, but the relationship quickly turned sour. One night at a pool party, Keith fell asleep while his girlfriend went through his phone to find texts from his ex-wife and a message to a friend that stated he ‘wasn’t planning on sticking around’.
Sadly for Keith, the party was packed with biker dudes:
So I woke up to being carried by each limb by a man, floating across the lawn. They tossed me in the gravel drive and it was dead quiet. They just started stomping me in silence. All I could do was cover my face.
Eventually, Keith’s brother showed up to take him in and get him help, but he was still struggling through a divorce, and couldn’t afford child support, let alone an attorney to help him.
He said:
I had been trying to call my kids and begging to speak to them. My attempts were fervent over the first year, but each time I tried and was [unable to speak to them] it ripped the wound open and I would fall apart more. I began to try less and less often.
The stress of his life caused Keith to end up in a psych ward twice, and he began to lose weight rapidly. Still struggling to find a job, Keith moved back to St. Louis to live with some friends who were into health and fitness.
That’s when he began to train:
I ran in the mornings and I ran at night. I would do push-ups and just body weight exercises at home twice a day, at least once at worst. Only a small amount of all this because I wasn’t very strong. I would take a day off when I felt wore down.
[His friends] don’t eat wheat products, rye, barley. Gluten-free. I thought it was obnoxious at first, having to worry about what I ate was never a problem, I liked to cook and I ate healthy, just too much.
During this time, Keith began to hang out and train with some people who were into wrestling and boxing – “amateur wrestlers like WWE style.” He was soon approached by the owner of the Cage of Champions tournament in Jefferson City and asked to enter his first fight on October 16.
He managed to drop his body weight from 220lbs to 147lbs in order to enter the featherweight division.
It didn’t all go to plan though:
I had always admired MMA but I never thought I’d get to do it. The transformation for me has been surreal, I kinda feel like someone else.
I lost… I was too eager to prove myself and I just was off my time. I didn’t have any discipline. I had two years worth of emotion bottled up into walking into the octagon.
Since the fight, Keith found himself a job as a carpenter and can now pay child support to his kids. Despite this, he might still see jail time for his money troubles in the past.
I still have nothing. I spent six weeks in county jail this summer, I have a court date for felony support on 19th. There is no help for someone like me, I just can’t get back on my feet. I don’t have drug or alcohol problem, I just have life problem.
I am emotionally 200 per cent better. My spirit is in a good place, it’s just not the same without my kids to share it with.
Mark is the Gaming Editor for UNILAD. Having grown up a gaming addict, he’s been deeply entrenched in culture and spends time away from work playing as much as possible. Mark studied music at University and found a love for journalism through going to local gigs and writing about them for local and national publications.