The World's Strongest Boy
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$400,000
"Kids are going to be adults, they're going to be our future. Right now, one out of three has the potential of dying before their parents. I want to get them eating right and doing sports for one hour a day." - Richard 'Little Hercules' Sandrak on childhood obesity.
Richard Sandrak is most well-known for being a young bodybuilder. By the age of 3, Sandrak was training in martial arts and weight lifting. By the time that Sandrak was ten-years-old, he could bench press more than 210lbs. Outfitted with an incredible physique, Sandrak quickly got the attention of the international media. Dubbed the 'world's strongest boy', Sandrak would go on to become a physical fitness icon in the late '90s.
One Sandrak began to get media attention, his career came into focus. Little Hercules would go on to star in several films in order to showcase his physique. He would also follow a notoriously strict diet and fitness regiment that had onlookers concerned for the young boy.
After his father, Pavel Sandrak, would be incarcerated, Richard would step away from the fitness world. Sandrak now works as a stunt coordinator at Waterworld: A Live Sea War Spectacular for Universal Studios in Hollywood. Sandrak has gone on record saying that he'd love to one day work as an engineer for NASA.
Raising Fitness Greatness
Richard Sandrak was born on April 16, 1992, in a small village located in Ukraine. His father was Pavel Sandrak, a former martial arts world champion, and his mother was Lena Sandrak, a competitive aerobics athlete. When Richard was just two-years-old, the family picked up and moved to Pennsylvania. The Sandrak's wanted to provide their son with more opportunities, and they figured that those opportunities would arrive in the United States.
By the time that Sandrak was able to walk, he was already fully invested in his father's physical fitness routine. Sandrak would go on to stun the world with his physical abilities. By six-years-old, Sandrak was benching 190lbs. By the time that Sandrak was 8-years-old, he was pushing over 200lbs up with every rep. It was at this point in time that the Sandrak family would link up with Frank Giardina, a gym owner, and physical trainer. Giardina would be instrumental in Sandrak's physical routine.
Outside of his affinity for physical fitness, Sandrak lived a woefully incomplete childhood. He was completely banned from consuming any sweets or junk food. Sandrak can recall multiple times when his father would eat an entire pizza in front of him while forcing Richard to eat nothing but lettuce. Sandrak's punishments at home included intense exercise routines. Sandrak says that he didn't see these routines as punishments. According to Sandrak, he wanted to partake in his parent's passion for fitness.
Little Hercules Gives It All Up
While Richard Sandrak would become a famous figure in America, he wasn't without controversy. Due to the intensity of his fitness routine and the borderline criminal training sessions implemented by his father, onlookers were concerned. Sandrak wasn't allowed to have a traditional childhood. He didn't get to hang out with friends, eat tasty food, or relax in front of video games. Having said that, Sandrak was able to quickly cement himself as a fitness guru.
At just 10-years-old, Sandrak would begin traveling all over the country in order to compete in athletic competitions. Sandrak would also go on several promotional tours in order to showcase his skills. Sandrak famously appeared on The Howard Stern Show before going on to make his Hollywood debut. In 2009, a 17-year-old Sandrak would appear in Little Hercules in 3D. The film served as a showcase for Sandrak's physical attributes and was largely seen as a flop. Still, Sandrak would get to rub elbows with Hulk Hogan, Judd Nelson, and John Heard.
It was around this time that Richard's trainer, Frank Giardina, would separate from the Sandrak family. Giardina had come to believe that the Sandrak family were not taking appropriate care of their child. This would cause a public feud between the two figures that would result in the shattering of their partnership. Shortly thereafter, Pavel Sandrak would end up incarcerated. With Pavel out of the picture, Little Hercules was featured in a documentary, The World's Strongest Boy. The documentary would feature Sandrak's phenomenal physical attributes, but it would also open the door to medical speculation. Lena Sandrak would deny that her sone ever ingested performance-enhancing drugs.
With Pavel's strict training regiment no longer in action, Sandrak was able to ease himself into a regular life. He cut his training routine down to five 90-minute sessions per week while making time for pizza, friends, and his own social life. Sandrak would appear in two other projects before retiring from Hollywood. Those projects were The Legends of Nethiah (2012) and Assassin Priest (2012).
Nowadays, Richard Sandrak is comfortably retired from the competitive fitness world. Sandrak claimed that he had quit working bodybuilding because he had grown bored with the routine. Instead, Sandrak focuses on gymnastics, cardio workouts, and skateboarding. While he wants to one day work for NASA, Sandrak is currently employed by Universal Studios Hollywood. Sandrak is the stuntman for the Waterworld: A Live Sea War Spectacular attraction.
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