Over the years, we’ve seen kid prodigies from all walks of life completely blow our minds. From Daliyah Marie Arana who had already read over 1,000 books by the age of five to Addisyn Goss, who was on her way to change the world by the age of ten, we’ve seen it all. But some fifteen years ago, the world was completely captivated by an 8-year-old bodybuilder called Richard Sandrak, famously known as “Little Hercules”.
The kid was known for his extreme physique, which resulted in him being named the world’s strongest boy. Today the once young bodybuilder is all grown up, after following a surprising path. Find out whatever happened to “Little Hercules,” and make sure you read to the end to see what he looks like today!
1. A Kid Who Defied All Expectations
It’s no news to us that achieving a body like this takes quite a bit of work. A lot of commitment, dedicated hours, and dietary choices may have to change in order to build an impressive physique. This is especially true if our aim is to reach “god-like” physiques, like famous bodybuilders Arnold Swarzenegger, Dwayne Johnson, or Lou Ferrigno.
Yet, one specific kid managed to start working on his physique goals at a pretty young age. At the age of eight, Little Hercules took over the world, but soon disappeared leaving all of us wondering what happened to him.
2. It Was In His Genes
But let’s start from the beginning. Little Hercules was born in 1992. His parents, Lena and Pavel, named him Richard Sandrak and found it really important to keep their kid active from a young age. He was born and raised in Ukraine where he began his bodybuilding journey, but most of his life would be spent in the United States.
His parents were always pretty active, as his mom, Lena, was an aerobics teacher while his dad, Pavel, was a martial arts trainer and enthusiast. So it’s not surprising that Richard started his bodybuilding journey early on, as he would often join his parents in their busy physical routines.
3. Learning Each Move
After just a couple of years working out with his parents, Richard reached an entirely different level. Several parents worldwide have incredibly high expectations for their children, and Richard’s parents were no exception. Though they were based in Ukraine, the family decided that it was time to move across the pond and start a new life.
Lena and Pavel agreed that the best place to raise their son would be Pennsylvania, so they packed their bags, and off they went. Once they were settled in, it didn’t take too long until they were back in business. They quickly found a gym nearby, as staying too long without working out was never an option.
4. Being Trained By His Father
That was when Richard’s father decided it was time to begin teaching his son some Taekwondo moves. Though it caught Pavel by surprise, the pair had just started the lessons when he noticed that his son was really special. The way he learned the moves distinguished himself from any other student he had ever had.
Richard was completely in control of his moves and had a perfect combination of the balance and mental strength that is needed for mastering martial arts. He also picked up things quickly, which was something that Pavel had not anticipated, but was happy to learn about. At some point, he thought that it was time to introduce weight gaining to his son. This was the beginning of a long journey that would end with suspicious, terrible rumors, and, eventually, the police.
5. He Became The Best
He started slowly, both by teaching Richard about weight gaining, and going through some technical stretches and moves that would be important for his routine. Yet, Richard continued to do and learn everything effortlessly, like he had been made for it. He kept getting better with each lesson, and that was when the family once again decided to relocate.
This time, they were moving to California. Pavel had a vision for his son, so they needed to be in the right place. Though Pavel had amazing martial art skills, he knew that if he wanted to take his son’s skillfulness to a different level he needed professional training. So he searched everywhere for a trainer who would be the best fit, finally finding the one and only Frank Giardina.
6. They Agreed That He Was Different
Frank was an impressive man. He owned his own gym franchise and had decades of experience in bodybuilding. If his spectacular background wasn’t enough, he had access to every single tool and apparatus that Richard needed to reach the next level of his training. Pavel was satisfied with his choice, and now more than ever, hoped that Richard would get the best training until he eventually reached stardom.
As soon as Frank met Richard, he also saw something different. Pavel and Frank were instantly on the same page and were determined to work together to take Richard to a whole other level. Right away, Frank started writing up an exercise plan that would allow Richard to grow more than ever.
7. Should They Be Pushing A Child So Hard?
If the plan actually worked, Richard would be able to work on every single muscle in his body. Quickly, Frank and Pavel made an agreement, they were both going to work hard to push Richard to become one of the youngest and strongest bodybuilders in the world. With Richard’s set of skills, it was an achievable dream.
In order to achieve that though, they began training Richard as if he was an adult instead of a child. Although it might sound strange, it seemed like whatever they were doing was working because Richard’s body made progress every single week. But that didn’t mean that people weren’t beginning to question the ethics of what his parents were doing.
8. Proving How Strong He Was
By the age of six, Richard looked different from every other child in the world. Obviously, the bigger he became, the more attention he caught from strangers. People quickly started approaching the little boy with muscles with increasing curiosity, which confirmed that Pavel’s plan to make his son famous was working. Soon after they started referring to the kid as “Little Hercules”.
Though it was easy to figure out that Richard was an incredibly strong child, when Richard was able to bench an astounding 180 pounds at the age of six, everyone completely lost it. Basically, this means that Richard was able to bench the equivalent of an adult male kangaroo, which many adults fail to do themselves.
9. His Ability To Lift Weights Was Shocking
If most adults struggle to carry such weight, just imagine a little child. But this was just the beginning of it all. Richard was only getting stronger and was determined to break some crazy world records. Sure enough, by the age of eight, Richard was able to lift some 210 pounds, once again shocking the world.
What was even more incredible is that he barely struggled to pick that weight up off the ground. But although the world was excited to see the successful side of Richard’s accomplishments, barely anyone got to see the work it took to get there. As we’re about to learn, things could become pretty difficult away from the spotlight.
10. Richard Was The Victim Of Abuse
Richard was after all just a little kid with a grueling workout routine to follow on a daily basis. He could be found at the gym every single day, with Frank pushing him to his limits. In addition to the workout, Richard also had a hard regimen to follow at home, directed by his father.
Once he got home from each gym session, his father would actually stand over his son while requiring him to perform 600 push-ups, 300 squats, and 600 sit-ups every evening. Only after completing them, he would get to rest. That resulted in a pretty harsh childhood for Richard. The intense workouts ended in a pretty unbalanced and unhealthy lifestyle, especially for a child. While the whole world was enthralled at the moment, it wouldn’t be long before people began asking some tough questions.
11. Being Forced To Watch His Parents Eat Junk Food
Every aspect of his life was dominated by his workout routine. Lena and Pavel even prohibited Richard from spending any time with children his age, let alone play and go out to the park. Because most of his childhood was dedicated to his regimen, he never actually got any friends and failed to meet anyone his age after the move.
More than that, even his meal plans were pre-determined by his parents, so even though other kids got to eat a piece of candy here and there, Richard barely even knew what candy was. And because Richard was so determined to make his parents and his trainer proud, he continued to follow through with the regimen while keeping his complaints to himself.
12. Balancing His Choices
Richard’s meal plan was mainly made of lean meats, fruits, vegetables… and nothing more. If he felt hungry in moments that didn’t fall under his meal schedule, he was basically allowed to have some lettuce heads and that was pretty much it. What was worse is that his parents didn’t have such a strict meal plan themselves, so they would allegedly eat pizza and burgers in front of their son.
That was about the time that people began asking questions. With the increasing fame, random people started wondering what type of lifestyle Richard would have to follow away from the cameras in order to have so many muscles.
13. The Family Starts Getting Questioned
Though people were undeniably impressed by Richard’s muscles, he was still just a child. With time, people not only began asking questions, but some actually grew increasingly worried about the kid’s life away from the cameras. They specifically wondered if the young bodybuilder had any say on his strict meal and exercise regimen and whether Pavel was actually forcing his son to go through everything just for the fame.
Yet, Pavel always publicly denied any accusation related to pushing his son more than he could handle. When Richard was asked about it, he also said that the workouts and the lifestyle were “mostly his choice”, and no one forced him to do anything. He went on to continue to defend his father’s behavior.
14. Determined To Push His Limits
It was important for Richard that the world knew that his father never forced him to do anything, apparently, everything had been done in total agreement. Either way, getting to the top of one’s career does take a lot of work and dedication, especially being an athlete. Even if we aren’t athletes ourselves, it’s not hard to see the hard work and lengthy gym time that it takes to reach a certain athletic level.
In fact, several athletes have dedicated their whole lives to a specific sport, and though Richard was just eight-years-old, he was no exception. He did however differentiate himself from others, in the sense that no other person his age was that dedicated, still, he was just another athlete.
