May 16, 2017

Meet Chris Greenhill of Tier One Training Center in Evanston

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Greenhill.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Chris. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Tier One Training was founded in 2014 by Hayk Tadevosyan, Arpun Nagaraja and myself. While coming from different backgrounds we were brought together in 2012 through our work as Krav Maga instructors. Krav Maga is an Israeli self defense system that has been adapted for civilian, police and military use. Our friendship and shared passion for the job drove us to build our own business which we established in Evanston. Now Tier One Training is the only place in Evanston that offers Krav Maga, competition style boxing and Tactical Fitness which is a health and fitness system specifically designed to meet the needs of crisis responders and combat athletes.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
While it has not been easy the reward of working for yourself far outweighs the stress. We were not experienced business men so it was initially outside our comfort zone to deal with marketing, sales and the other back end management duties but we have learned as we go. Having three of us with different strengths allowed us to split the workload while providing a safety net to catch any errors that may have been missed. We have made mistakes but starting small meant they were manageable and provided valuable learning experience moving forward.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are in the fitness and self defense industry. This is a crowded market but we know our unique blend of proven systems along with our own experience help set us apart from the others. Having the owners of the business be the same ones teaching the lessons creates an open, no-nonsense environment when it comes to communication and understanding what students want. We are most proud of the community that has formed around Tier One of people from all walks of life who are equal once they step on the mats. People come to train hard and have a good time.

What were you like growing up?
The three of us grew up in different countries but we all had an interest in martial arts and teaching from an early age. Understanding how the body works, can be improved through proper nutrition/training and then utilized to accomplish an objective are some of the most important things you could know. The objective the body is asked to execute will vary from person to person whether it is winning a fight, fighting fires or something simpler but no less important like playing with your children or staying pain free as you grow older.

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