Professional bodybuilders make it their life’s work to perfect every muscle in their body. They spend countless hours at the gym sculpting and toning, and when they’re not pumping iron, they’re following incredibly strict diets to achieve an immaculate form.
Richard Sandrak was a child with a controversial story. He rose to fame as a bodybuilder when he was only eight years old. His father introduced him to weightlifting when he was just two, and he became obsessed. Now, many years later, you’ll be shocked to see what’s come of Richard…
Bodybuilding is the art of sculpting muscles to near perfection. The people who work hard to do so are usually adults, but one young boy named Richard Sandrak quickly developed a reputation as a bodybuilder at the tender age of eight.
Richard was born in Ukraine in 1992. His father Pavel was an award-winning martial artist and his mother competed in aerobics, so from an early age, Richard was taught to take good care of his body. When Richard was two years old, his family moved to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania, where Pavel introduced him to weightlifting.
Shortly after Richard started lifting weights, Pavel relocated the family to California. He saw a lot of potential in his son, and California was full of bodybuilding opportunities. As soon as they settled in their new home, Pavel hired a fitness coach to help Richard perfect his craft.
Pavel and the trainer worked Richard every single day, even when Richard didn’t want to. The young boy spent the majority of his childhood in the gym instead of playing with friends. It’s said that Richard would do 600 push-ups and 300 squats each day!
Pavel also controlled his son’s diet, and he was very strict about what Richard put into his body. Richard’s exercise routine and diet had a profound effect on his physique. His abs and biceps started to bulge, and Pavel couldn’t have been more proud of the work Richard was putting in to keep them that way.
Richard was quickly becoming popular in his gym. He was so much younger than everyone else there, and people were taking notice of his incredible physique. In fact, the local newspaper even dubbed him “Little Hercules” and called him “the strongest boy in the world.” Richard was only eight at the time!
Richard began competing in national bodybuilding events around the country. The media loved him, and he would frequently attend photo shoots and promote health products for various companies. He was also interviewed on the radio and on television.
He was also the star of a documentary titled The World’s Strongest Boy. Although the film highlighted his incredible workout routine, it also revealed he had less than one percent body fat. This might sound impressive, but it’s actually dangerous to have so little.
After the film showcased Richard’s life, people started questioning whether or not the routine Pavel set for his son was actually doing more harm than good. The young bodybuilder didn’t have many friends, and he wasn’t allowed to do much outside of the gym.
Richard now claims he was never pressured by his father to work out as intensely as he did, but other people had a different view of his father’s role in his life. In fact, the trainer who Richard’s father hired eventually quit, calling Pavel’s grueling parenting techniques criminal.
Richard’s bodybuilding obsession came to an abrupt end when he was 11 years old. During a fight between his mother and father, Pavel broke his wife’s nose and wrist, and he was sent to prison for domestic violence.
With Pavel out of the picture, Richard decided to put his passion for bodybuilding aside. His mother never pressured him to train like his father did, and he was able to finally have the childhood other children his age were enjoying.
What exactly is Richard up to all these years later? The answer might surprise you. For starters, he no longer lifts weights. He still keeps himself healthy, but the days of intense daily training sessions at the gym are long gone.
Now, he spends his time setting himself on fire! In a 2015 interview, he revealed he currently works in Hollywood as a stuntman. He’s employed by Universal Studios, and he lights himself on fire around five times a day in front of large crowds.
He loves the buzz of being a stuntman, and he claims that every day he shows up to work is an adrenaline rush. Over time, simply lifting weights became too boring and monotonous, and he needed something more exciting in his life.
When asked about his unique past, Richard said he had no shame in how he grew up. “I’m very proud of my past. It’s not something I don’t want people to know, it’s just that I’m not going to be stuck living in it.”
Although Richard no longer spends countless hours perfecting his body at the gym, he still runs regularly and follows a healthy diet. He also spends much of his time skateboarding on the streets of California to stay in shape.
Does “Little Hercules” have any future plans to get back into bodybuilding? None whatsoever. Instead, he has completely shifted his focus to another type of work altogether: quantum science! It’s quite a far cry from weightlifting.
Even though he makes his living as a stuntman, he has dreams of one day becoming a quantum scientist. During his 2015 interview, he said he would even love to work for NASA as a space shuttle engineer!
Richard Sandrak’s life is truly a unique one. He and his family faced a lot of criticism for the life he led as a child, but that’s all behind him now. He wants to shed the “Little Hercules” persona and one day fulfill his dream of joining NASA. Best of luck, Richard!
