Pertaining to gear:
Most shooters put all their gear on the belt. A few years back, I bought a DeTurk vest from Invictus Practical because it seemed to me to be the best way to add a large number of shotgun shells without tying up a big portion of belt real estate. It came with a simple chest band, which I wasn't really thrilled with because it could slip down during movement if the band wasn't really tight. So I bought a simple light chest rig from 5.11, and used ALICE clips to secure the Deturk vest to the chest rig. I came to discover that it had some additional benefits that I didn't anticipate when I bought it. If the stage designers put you in a vehicle, it is much easier to load pistol or rifle mags from a chest rig as opposed to a belt. I can go prone with shotgun shells on my chest, and not lose them, whereas shotgun shells on your belt are prone to being dislodged if you prone out. If a stage incorporates a lot of running, having the weight of mags and ammo on your chest instead of your hips, prevents the weight from being detrimental to running. Your hips have some rotational movement when you run, while your chest naturally stays relatively still. It feels much smoother and more natural to run when you get all that weight off of your hips.
For shotgun only matches, having the chest rig plus all my normal shotgun caddies lets me carry 36 shotgun shells plus the 9 in the gun for the start. I have a pretty wide assortment of other caddies that I can add via teklocks if necessary for really big shotgun stages like a jungle run.
All of my belt gear is now on ALS or QLS plates, so I can remove it if I don't need it for a stage. Two gun stage, rifle/shotgun only. I can remove my pistol, still in the QLS holster, and just leave it in my range bag. Same thing for pistol/rifle stages. I will pull all my shotgun caddies. It only takes a second to clip them back on for the next stage.