At the tender age of two, Richard, who was born in a small village in the Ukraine, migrated with his parents to the USA and settled in Pennsylvania. There, only a year later, he started to train in both the martial arts and bodybuilding, while using small lightweight dumbbells to help strengthen his body. Richard began to excel. In 1999, the family took another bold venture and again risked everything on a move to California in the hopes of a better life. His parents wanted to find a trainer for Richard, and after talking to many people in the fitness business, they were given the name of Frank Giardina who was concidered one of the top fitness trainers in the industry. The family met Frank when Richard was 7 years old. Frank a successful trainer and bodybuilder to the stars started to train Richard at his Gold's Gym. While doing their first show "Ripley's Believe it or Not" Frank compared Richard to Hercules the strongest in the world.
Shortly thereafter, the media started to take a notice to Richard’s incredible progress and the remarkable young age at which he was accomplishing this. Headlined as such, Richard started to appear as a guest poser in many bodybuilding shows such as: Mr. Olympia, Night of Champions, Mr. USA, the Emerald Cup, and one of the biggest there is, the Arnold Classic among many others.
Worldwide, Richard has been fortunate to inspire children and adults alike. And wanting to use this in the best way possible, Richard, with the help of his new manager Marco Garcia, in March 2005 completed the shooting on a new video program to help kids stay healthy, fit and happy called the Little Hercules Workout Video For Kids, which is available now. Richard has just finished shooting his first Movie "Little Hercules 3D . Starring Hulk Hogan, Robin Givens ,Judd Nelson,Mark John Jeffries, Elliot Gould ,The Big Show and Diana Venora. This movie will be released later this year.
.At this time Richard trains with Frank 5 days a week doing many different types of cardio vascular excercise such as running stairs, pushups, sit-ups and pull-ups. Frank, being a nutritionist has designed a nutritional and supplemental plan specifically for Richard.