What do you think about Little Hercules?

[ForrestGump]

No, that's not a pet name for my personal apparatus. I'm up too late, just ate (so can't go to bed for a while), and am filling the (sadly) unfamiliar 'dead' time in my day by flicking through TV channels. I stumbled across this program titled The World's Strongest Boy, on TLC. I've seen this little dude on TV before, and I got about as angry this time around as I did then.

Basically, for the uninitiated, this little kid has an incredible body, in the bodybuilding sense, and has since he was six or something like that. Here's a story that fills in some of the basics:

http://www.craigproductions.com/RichardS.htm

And here's the kid's Web site:

http://www.richardsandrak.com

I'm all for children exercising, but this kid's parents seem to have tried to make up for the well-documented sloth and flabbiness of America's youth all in the person of their son. He's been on an extremely strict diet for basically his whole life and, of course, once they moved to Los Angeles they found plenty of enablers -- LA is, after all, ground zero for the kind of people who value appearances over all else, regardless of consequences. That's the only explanation I can see for fitness experts (well, perhaps 'fitness' is not necessarily applicable as a descriptor of the purview of some bodybuilding gurus and afficionados) going along with this digusting program...then again, some of those kind think steroids are just dandy, too, so lack of a moral compass is perhaps not a huge surprise. Money's involved, too, of course, and we all know that money makes Amerika go around.

I'm not an expert, but what I do know suggests to me that the kind of extreme physical training and muscle development (and strict diet, though imposition of that's perhaps more an emotional form of abuse, or nearly so, rather than a physiological threat) is very bad for a growing boy. Too much strain on joints and attachment points and other factors that negatively affect a structure that is still growing and will continue to do so for a good decade or more. Ditto the extreme gymnastics training that some kids get -- that back flexing that the girls do, for example, is incredibly bad for them.

Sure, it's great to encourage physical fitness, flexibility, and such things as martial arts training and gymnastics in children, but I think that his parents went too far. No balance at all, and no reason. They're both fitness fanatics -- I use the term 'fanatic' advisedly -- and are trying the same thing out on the boy's young sister now. I think they're sick pigs. I think that they did it in active search for money, too, but even if their motives were 'pure' they're still sick f***ers. To my mind, they're unfit parents who're guilty of child abuse. That kid may or may not be messed up later in life -- I'm not naive enough to discount a plethora of factors that could sway it either way -- but the indisputable fact is that he has tremendous pressure on him, partly in terms of having to be a star, and that his life has been completely dominated by exercise and the pursuit of the perfect 'ripped' physique. Those parents are disgusting and should have their children taken away from them, not bask in the reflected glory of their exploited and f***ed-up son.

What the hell is that kid going to be like -- physically and emotionally -- when he's in his 20s or 30s? Sure, I wouldn't have minded a bit of that kid's physique when I was ten (hey, who else were those ubiquitous comic-book Charles Atlas ads intended to target?), but there's a huge gulf between being in good shape with good muscular development and being at an extreme that may be widely perceived as 'healthy' but that is likely far more of a serious health threat than the pottiest of pot bellies.

Sick, sick, sick...



P.S.: just watched the rest of it, and it turns out that when his first manager/trainer suspected the father of covertly feeding the kid steroids the father threatened to kill the manager (and, later, his wife and two children). The father ended up in jail for three years. Nice man. In the meantime, watch for the movie Tiny Tarzan. Hooray for Hollywood.

[scarlet_owl]

1. I saw that too. All the time I watched it, I couldn't help wondering

if anyone else thought it was creepy that this kid's body is on display. I'm no expert either, but I believe that can't be good for this kid. Six year olds shouldn't look that way. It seems to me that his parents have pushed him too far and are exploiting him. Regarding steroid use, I think the doctor on the program was spot on when he stated to the effect that only testosterone can build muscle like that, and little boys just don't have enough to do that. I think the whole thing is sad.

[SarahB]

2. Do I disagree with it?

Um, yep. Let's see, on how many levels do I find this unacceptable? As the mom of little boys, I'd hate to see someone so young have to worry about appearance to such a level at that age that I can't help but wonder about what the lifelong emotional consequences could be (same goes for those little girls who do those beauty contest things). As someone who has been an early childhood educator, I can't help but wonder if the boy's educational and social needs are adequately being met when this is the focus of his life. As someone who now works in medicine (much of which includes young people with orthopedic issues these days), I can't help but wonder about long term potential damage to the muscular and skeletal structure (not even going into nutrition and what this kid could be eating or not eating to maintain this look).

Seems more like a case of using your own child for some warped ego gratification or financial gain. Sounds pretty f*cked up to me. Let the kid be a kid.