Gear at the HHG

In the midst of all the responsibilities of my life right now I managed to get some time today to go to the HHG and get into some gear. This is all new territory for me so I was a bit cautious with my lifts. Which is probably the best approach. Here's what I + gear managed to accomplish.

Squats
Raw, Belt - bar/6 reps, 60kg/6 reps, 100kg/3 reps, 140kg/1 rep, 160kg/1 rep.
Suit Bottoms, Belt, Knee Wraps - 160kg/1 rep.
Full Z Suit, Belt, Knee Wraps - 180kg/1 rep, 210kg/miss (very ugly).
Full Titan Dual Quad, Belt, Knee Wraps - 200kg/miss (one inch above parallel).

Sumo Deadlifts Over Hand Grip
Full Z suit, Belt - 100kg, 140kg, 180kg, 220kg, 230kg(miss).

One thing I've learned about gear. IT HURTS! Powerlifting itself is not a sport for the weak hearted but adding gear makes it almost unbearable. The reward is the big lifts and new PBs.
I found the Z Suit hard to breath in. With everything on and the weight on my back I found I couldn't get a full breath of air into my lungs. After the 180kg I felt like I suffocating. Damn I love this sport! McLifter, my mentor, suggested I try his Titan Dual Quad Custom which has a much lower neck line. This made it much easier to breath and I was able to get into a much better position. I was still a bit shell shocked after missing 210kg and dumping it over my head that my final squat in the Titan came up an inch or so short. Ya, I dumped it over my head. I wouldn't suggest doing this, it's no fun. With everything on and bending over that far I felt like my head was going to explode. With all the complaining about gear I can still hear McLifter on my shoulder, "suck it up butter cup".
The Deadlifts were awesome. I pulled the Z suit on again and pulled sumo with an over hand grip. My PB for this is 405lbs so I was extremely pleased to pull 220kg. Yes, that's a 79lb increase. WOW! I wanted, and I'm sure I could have pulled 230kg but I was totally spent after everything else that happened earlier. All in all a good day of lifting. I got a new PB, gained some experience, and learned some new tricks.

Snowdaddy