I'm interested in doing a suicide suspension, but I weigh 280 lbs. My crew is knowledgeable and has assured me that it's no problem, but I'm interested in educating myself from multiple sources. Is there anyone on here that has advice on suspending larger people? I'm aware that a superman or a coma suspension might be better options, but I'm really hoping to do a suicide. Thank you in advance for your time.

Hi there!

I have a pretty standard response to "larger people" suspension questions... and it is this...






But I also want to provide you with a more legit response... Please keep in mind that I am a suspension enthusiast, not a professional, so everything I say is based on my experience as a suspendee.

I weigh significantly more than you do, and I've never had any suspension problems related to my size. My successful suspensions, in order, have been two 4pt suicides, a 14pt super(wo)man, and a 6pt resurrection.

I've got a bit of a personal rule that I will never suspend with a crew that is anything but supportive about suspending at my weight.

I'm not sure how suspension for me, as a fat person, is different from the experience of suspending as a thin person. I know that I have especially tough skin on my upper shoulders, which makes getting suicide hooks thrown kind of rough, but it's still totally manageable.

I've heard that holding your ankles while in a suicide makes it a little more comfortable, but I like to push off of the ground, so I don't do it. If you can't comfortably grab your ankles, you may want to try stretching for several days before your suspension to see if that helps. I know that some suspendees need to have one of their facilitators hand them their feet, so keep that in mind.

If you have any specific questions that you want a fellow large-suspendee to answer, I'm an open book.

I can also direct you to pictures and video of all of my suspensions, if that would add to your comfort.




TL;DR: If you want to do a suicide, do a damn suicide. Just do it with a good team who is supportive.

I mean... I won't lie to you... My superman was INFINITELY more comfortable than the suicides that I have done. For my superman, I spent an hour and a half-ish in the air and could have been up longer. I spent MAYBE 6 minutes in the air for my longest suicide and came down shaky and exhausted.

HOWEVER, I freaking love suicides. It's been like 10 months since I did a suicide, and I'm super ready to do one again.




One more thing... Don't even consider the possibility of not making it into the air. I didn't leave the ground for my very first suspension, and even though I tried to be really positive about it... I was miserable.

Whenever I talk to first timers, I like to explain what was going on in my head during my failed suspension. I reached a point where I was on my tiptoes, and once you are there, you can only do one of two things. You can go up, or you can give up. That's the moment when you have to tell yourself that giving up isn't even an option, because that hurts so much worse than the weight on your hooks.

Just know that you'll be fine and go for it.

I weigh just a little less than you and have done quite a few suspensions with at most 10 and at least 2 hooks, all successfully.

Edited by evalution - January/13/2014 at 1:23am

The earth is also pulling at me with 1,00 to 1,02 kiloNewton. Which is somewhat less, than the first writer has to stand, but still enough.

Suicide suspensions worked nice, but I definitely prefer better spread weight, as it is way more comfortable. Angel is close to suicide, you can move around well, but the weight is nicely spread - it is a comfortable suspension. The permanent piercings in the back I occasionally use that way.

Still the longest and most medidative suspensions I did were all 12-14 hooks superman (3h and more).