When entrepreneur, bodybuilder, and salsa lover Steve Bowling decided to make a great tasting salsa he knew it had to be different from the typical salsas on the supermarket shelves. Most of the salsas sold in the U.S.A. are based on Southwest recipes - good maybe, but not quite hitting the bulls eye for a salsa man like Steve. Deciding to do his homework, Steve researched salsa recipes, consulted Mexican chefs, and eventually came up with an authentic Mexican recipe for his line of Valley of Mexico Salsas.

Without the backing of a large food company, Steve had to go from store to store trying to convince store managers to stock his product. This is not an easy undertaking especially when you consider his competition being some of the biggest names in the food business. But the truth was that if Steve could get someone to try his salsa he knew he could get a customer for life - that’s how good this stuff was!

After pounding the pavement for several years, in 1995 Steve bought some advertising time on the shock-jock Don Imus’ morning radio show out of New York City. The scheduled two minute commercial turned into a ten minute free-for-all with Imus making fun of Steve and how this guy was selling salsa out of the trunk of his car. The commercial caused a stir in the area with fans demanding that Stop and Shop and other supermarket chains stock the product. Today, through Steve’s sheer determination and persistence, Valley of Mexico Salsa can be found in over 2,000 stores across the Northeast and Southeast.

Another interesting thing about 43 year old Steve Bowling is that he has been a bodybuilder for over 25 years. Being an entrepreneur with big dreams and the guts to see them through, Steve credits his fitness and bodybuilding lifestyle with keeping him in shape both physically and mentally. At a body weight of 195 pounds he has bench pressed 405 and squatted with 650! And that is with no drugs - only hard work, good diet, supplements, and of course plenty of salsa!

Currently, Steve works out with his training partner and cousin Greg Lodato who has made fantastic gains in less than 2 years of training. In fact, this reporter, who had not seen Greg in two years, is a witness to this guy's improvement in both size and strength.

Steve and Greg's current training program is a 4 day split routine with Monday and Thursday working Chest, Shoulders and Triceps. Monday is the heavy day using more weight, less reps, and more rest time between sets. Thursday is the light day using lighter weight, stricter form, and a quicker pace. Tuesday and Friday is Legs, Back and Biceps day. Once again they use the Heavy/Light principal with Tuesday being the heavy day and Friday being the light day. Abs are worked every training day.