“Little Hercules.” What has become of the famous boy bodybuilder in 16 years?

In the early 2000s, few people in the United States had not heard of “Little Hercules” – an amazing boy bodybuilder. Already at the age of six, Richard Sandrak amazed onlookers with his athletic form, and by the age of eight he was actively participating in all popular American bodybuilding shows and became a real celebrity. About Sandrak wrote in magazines, called for television and movies, and his performances were attended by thousands of people. We tell you how Richard managed to get in such shape and what it cost him.

How did the strongest boy in the world train?

Richard Sandrak was born in 1992 in Ukraine, and when he was two years old he emigrated to the United States with his parents Pavel and Lena. For Richard, the path of “little Hercules” began as a child. He was not a year old when his mother started doing stretching exercises with him. And as soon as the boy learned to walk, his father took him seriously.

Richard’s parents had a direct connection to sports themselves. Pavel Sandrak is a world champion in martial arts, and Lena was professionally engaged in aerobics. As they said in an interview, they did not have to force Richard to train. He watched his parents practicing and wanted to do the same – to be like them.

Little Richard was quite easy to work out, and the results were amazing for his age. His father could not ignore this and began to approach the boy’s training with all seriousness. To stretching and simple exercises with weights were added martial arts, in which Sandrak also excelled. Paul realized that his son could achieve great success. But there were few prospects in quiet and provincial Pennsylvania.

In 1997, the whole family Sandrak moved to the city on the Hollywood hills – Los Angeles. There Paul met Frank Giardina, owner of the popular at the time fitness club Gold’s Gym. Giardina worked as a personal trainer for celebrities, and his wife Sherry, a former American “Miss Fitness”, helped him with the gym. Impressed by Richard’s accomplishments, they agreed to train him. However, Paul still had the final say – both in and out of the gym.

Sandrak worked out for several hours every day. His training minimum exceeded the adult program by many times: 600 push-ups, 600 repetitions of abs and 300 squats. And that’s not counting intensive martial arts training and special stretching. The result was visible, or rather – on the body. At six years old, Richard looked, to put it mildly, impressive and was very strong for his age. The boy could bench press about 82 pounds, more than twice his body weight. By the time he was eight years old, he was pushing around 95 pounds.

“Little Hercules” in Hollywood.

The young bodybuilder began to perform in competitions and was nicknamed “Little Hercules”. He participated in the most popular at that time American bodybuilding shows: “Mr. Olympia”, “Night of Champions”, “Mr. USA”, “Emerald Cup”, “Arnold Classic”. His fame spread all over the country: Richard appeared on the covers of magazines, he was invited to TV shows. He even managed to tour the United States. People found it hard to believe that at a young age the boy achieved such high results, and everyone wanted to see this miracle with their own eyes. By 1999, Sandrak was performing on major stages all over the country, from Las Vegas to New York.

Richard was completely consumed by the fitness world and show business. To keep up with everything, he had to live on a strict schedule: powerlifting, training, posing, dancing and choreography, and in his spare time – homeschooling. The life of “little Hercules” was scheduled by minutes.

Sandrak reached the peak of popularity in 2001, when he met his idol, Arnold Schwarzenegger, at the Arnold Classic bodybuilding show. The action star was amazed by Richard’s achievements, and the boy himself realized that at least one of his dreams had come true.

Criticism of Richard Sandrak and his family

It seemed that the little bodybuilder and his entire family invariably accompanies luck, however, not everything was so smooth. Of course, many admired his successes, but there were those who criticized his parents for strict upbringing, without which to achieve such results would hardly have been possible. Sandrak was accused of using doping. Allegedly, the boy could not maintain relief form only with the help of training and nutrition. To disprove the rumors, Paul made his son undergo three different tests.

Later, Frank Giardina, Richard’s coach, said that Paul was very strict and demanding not only towards his son, but also towards other family members. He had complete control over the boy’s life and raised him in almost Spartan conditions. Jardina said that he did not see a single toy in the house Sandraks, and with peers Richard almost did not communicate – he had no friends. All he did was train hard.

It is not known what exactly the system of nutrition Richard adhered to, but about the severity of his diet was a lot of rumors. For example, that he could not eat almost anything except white beans. Or that he never tried sweets or fast food, and his father made him watch himself eat junk food.

End of career: the “little Hercules” left bodybuilding

At some point, Paul completely relied on his son’s earnings. And when he suddenly stopped bringing income, Sandrak senior began to abuse alcohol. Richard’s father became increasingly aggressive, snapped at his wife, and later raised his hand on her. In April 2003, Paul could not control himself at all: he beat Lena, breaking her nose and wrist. Richard had time to assess the gravity of the situation and discreetly called the police. The father was convicted and imprisoned, and “little Hercules” was finally able to live like a normal child.

For some time, Richard continued to train and even began to act in movies. In 2005, a documentary about him – “The Strongest Boy in the World”, and in 2009, Sandrak played in “Little Hercules 3D”. Although a great success to call Richard’s movie debut can not be called, he managed to work on the same platform with real Hollywood stars and legends of wrestling – Hulk Hogan and Paul White. The boy participated in a couple more projects, and then suddenly disappeared.

How does Richard Sandrak look like now?

In 2015, Richard gave an interview to one of the American TV channels, in which he told what he had been doing lately. Recognize in the man on the screen of the famous boy-culturist was difficult: no striking reliefs or muscles. The audience saw an ordinary 23-year-old guy who only occasionally visits the gym.

In the program, Sandrak walked on the beach without a T-shirt and talked about what his days consist of nowadays. He refused to work out with iron. Probably trained for life as a kid. And the whole fitness routine was reduced to rare classes on the bar, cardio exercises and skateboarding.

Although Richard is no longer in the movies, he has not given up his childhood dream. Only now he’s a live-action actor at Universal Studios theme park in Hollywood. Sandrak’s position is more like the work of a stuntman: during performances, he rides on water skis, jumps off buildings, and sometimes even sets himself on fire.

It is hardly possible to compare the life of an animator with the real popularity in the world of bodybuilding, but Sandrak does not complain. It seems that an intense childhood as “little Hercules” gave Richard all possible impressions of fame and star life. He himself decided to give it all up and only now, according to him, has he become truly happy.