Child bodybuilder ‘Little Hercules’ went viral in the 90s – but what happened next?

For a while, Richard Sandrak was the strongest boy in the world. Looking like a mini-Schwarzenegger he was touted as being ‘pound-for-pound the most powerful human being on Earth’. At the age of five he was working out all day every day, and by the time he turned eight, he had rock hard abs, chiselled pecs and was able to bench press three times his own body weight. He competed in bodybuilding contests all over the world and soon became a global phenomenon, appearing on TV and in magazine spreads, and hanging out with the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the original Hulk, Lou Ferrigno.

But of course, behind the tiny bodybuilder and martial arts expert known as ‘Little Hercules’, there was a malevolent force who pushed and coerced him into an unnatural physique with dangerously low levels of body fat. Richard was roundly misused and abused, deprived of a normal childhood and forced to train against his will, he tells Metro. He gained international fame for his unbelievable achievements, but as he grew older, dark details of a life of violence and abuse emerged, and he retreated from the limelight.

Richard, now 32, lives a quiet existence with his attorney girlfriend and two cats Miko and Mushu in Los Angeles. His bodybuilding days have passed and he has embarked on a number of careers since, as a stuntman, chef and now as a retail manager. Little Hercules’ story has been clouded by mythology and untruths, and when Metro contacted him last year to set the record straight, he was in the throes of alcoholism, drinking a minimum of a bottle of tequila a day. Now, over a year sober and free from the controlling influences of his past, he is ready to tell his story.

‘When people talk about a childhood memory, it’s usually associated with something positive. I can’t really relate. For me, it was a daily occurrence to where I was physically and emotionally abused by my dad,’ he explains over video call from his San Fernando Valley home. A brief look online will tell you how Richard’s parents forced him to take steroids, that he grew up in a house with no toys, that he wasn’t allowed outside and that his dad would cruelly sit in front of him eating pizza, while the young bodybuilder was only allowed a head of lettuces.

While these are all falsehoods, the truth behind his unique childhood body is far more ‘simple’: ‘My physique was the result of working out eight hours a day, constant weight training and a diet of pure clean eating – no salt, no sugar; an athlete’s diet.’. However Richard’s childhood was still far from ordinary. Homeschooled and with no friends, from an early age the little boy was deprived of many of the normal treats and experiences most children of the nineties enjoyed. He couldn’t miss what he didn’t know about however, and for Richard the real trauma was the cruelty he experienced at the hands of his father Pavel Sandrak.

Reports online state that Richard was working out seven hours a day, doing 600 push ups and 300 squats. Was that true?. ‘Yes, and no. I mean, I don’t want to say some of it is exaggerated, but at the same time, there were many times where I pushed even past that point,’ he remembers. ‘It was a daily part of my life. I’d wake up and do martial arts and then later in the day I did the weight lifting.

‘My father would often go into rage fits and what would start as a normal workout ended up with me doing a triple split kick [performing three consecutive kicks in a single motion] for 12 hours. I’ll never forget it, because it was just extremely exhausting and emotionally heavy. And there were more times than I can count where a simple training session turned into what felt like a really intense hostage situation.’.

Richard recalls a time at the age of eight or nine where he had to carry out non-stop squats while he watched a movie. ‘That was something I got used to because that was my entire childhood. That’s how I was raised. I had nothing to compare it to. I didn’t have a friend to tell me, that’s not what we do,’ he says. ‘I got physically beaten into it. My dad was very abusive. I learned early on not to ask to stop. You grit your teeth and keep doing what you’re told.’.

The lifestyle and the fame afforded by his incredible physique did bring some positives, Richard admits. He travelled widely attending different body building shows and appeared on primetime TV, chatting to the likes of Tom Green, Jimmy Kimmel and Howard Stern. Plus, when he was in public, Pavel had to treat him properly. ‘It was a very confusing childhood. I don’t recall too many pleasant memories, until after my dad left.’.

By ‘left’, Richard means put in prison. After a particularly violent assault on his mother Lena in 2003, Richard dialled 911. ‘We [Richard has a younger sister, Anastasia] didn’t grow up knowing we could call the police. I was too fearful to make that dramatic step. But the abuse was getting worse and I just remember sitting by the phone, trying to make that decision,’ he recalls. ‘And I called them, told them not to sound their sirens, and they came and they took him away. It’s been a breath of fresh air ever since.’.