how to rest on steeper climbs?

So apparently some people can rest and recover the pumped feeling while climbing on overhang.  I can get a little of the pump out, but I never feel fully rested.  Apparently there is some ability to rest on your skin... and I'm assuming foot position/height/heel hooks can further help with this?  has anyone figured this out?  I've been attempting to rest on my 33 degree tension board and feel like the wood holds don't have enough friction + my glassy fingers.  I've tried slowly opening my hands to see if there is a position using minimal energy before my hands slide off and no luck so far with figuring this out. 

Wolfgang Gullich  stated that if you could get  the muscular load below 70%  of max, IIRC, you could recover, so part of his idea was to increase the max force you could produce in order to keep resting spots below 70% of that.

One thing I feel like has helped me is doing long, low effort, endurance training. I'll typically climb up a climb, down climb the climb, begin climbing again without touching the ground, and then come back down again. 

I feel like it forced my body to adapt to 1. finding rests/ climbing route more strategically 2. being able to recover on "less than ideal" holds. As you progress, the definition of "less than ideal" gets smaller and smaller and worse and worse. At first, you need a huge jug. Then you can do it on a big hold. Then you can do it on a medium hold, etc. 

Eric Hurst's "Training for Climbing Podcast" is a great resource on the current research into climbing related physiology and training science.  The ability to regain power while on a route is the product of many different things just as you suggest from highly specific technique and body positioning, to muscle composition, to anaerobic and aerobic capacity, to nutrition and several more big picture things I'm not qualified to provide guidance on.  Eric does a good job of taking on each factor individually and taking an objective and evidence based approach.  And it's free on whatever your podcast platform of choice is.  They are pretty dry and the music and pitches for his supplement line can be grating.  But the dude has devoted decades to staying on top of current climbing training knowledge and it's free.

Like most things in climbing performance, resting is some combination of physical attributes (strength; aerobic capacity), technique (finding the best body position; hand position; using heel hooks, etc), tactics (how long to stay at a rest, when to sprint, etc), and psychology (calming the mind at a rest, then revving up again when it is time to try hard).  You can work on each piece individually in all sorts of ways.

But there's no need to make it complicated. Ultimately (again, like most things in climbing), the best way to get better at it is to spend a lot of time climbing on terrain that requires that skill. And climb with people who are good at it. If you spend a bunch of time projecting enduro sport routes - preferably with partners who are good at this style - you'll figure it out.

Practicing in the gym is good too. The slippery holds on the Tension Board may be too advanced a starting point; perhaps find a more textured jug. T

But the dude has devoted decades to staying on top of current climbing training knowledge and it's free.

True, he has. Kudos to Eric.  

Kneebars. Sometimes I have found it is even possible to kneebar against your own hand or wrist on a hold that normally wouldn't be big enough. (be careful with your wrist). Obviously it pays to be proficient with various jams from fingers to arm so if one shows up you can take advantage and hang off it using different muscles.

Kiki Nwrote:

So apparently some people can rest and recover the pumped feeling while climbing on overhang.  I can get a little of the pump out, but I never feel fully rested.  Apparently there is some ability to rest on your skin... and I'm assuming foot position/height/heel hooks can further help with this?  has anyone figured this out?  I've been attempting to rest on my 33 degree tension board and feel like the wood holds don't have enough friction + my glassy fingers.  I've tried slowly opening my hands to see if there is a position using minimal energy before my hands slide off and no luck so far with figuring this out. 

Arms straight, shake one arm up first, then down (I do count of three), then switch to other arm. Repeat until “rested”.

Climbing with good pace between rests is as important as resting itself. The stronger your core, pulling muscles, and fingers are the easier it will be to find decent rests. Sometimes you can find a cheeky little hand jam or kneebar on a sport route. Climb in the red a lot and you’ll be forced to figure it out.

All of the above + 7-3 repeaters on the hangboard.  I got a TON out of adding 7-3 repeaters, both in terms of long rests and also micro-rests/quick flicks between moves.  That said, I started doing them after 8.5 years of climbing, spending a good amount of it on steep terrain, so the technical and mental components were already there.  Adding a bit of specific fitness helped a ton since the other things were dialed in.

Movement for Climbers YouTube Channel recently had a video where it was mentioned that using same-side hand and foot is less strenuous for resting on overhang - since you don’t need to hold body tension like you would with opposite hand and foot.

Smoke a lot of marijuana and look for heel hooks!

Here's my 2 cents, more so general advice on sport climbing at your limit that I've learned over the years:

1. See climbing the route as a choreographed dance. Every movement should be memorized, not only all the hand holds, but the feet, rest, shakeouts, and clips. The timing is also very important, the amount of time spent on each hold is crucial. Another big tip is using momentum to carry you from one move to the next. This will increase your efficiency and make climbing feel more effortless.
2. Climb with as little effort as possible, this is actually quite tricky because we naturally have the tendency to over-grip everything. You want to hold as little as possible to still stay on the wall. Feels very uncomfortable at first but a crucial skill to learn and get comfortable with.
3. Get comfortable climbing pumped, if you’re trying hard sport climbs you will have to climb pumped which can be very uncomfortable and scary. I think the best way to practice this is by doing 4x4’s on hardish boulders in the gym.
4. Practicing your dead hang, the 9c climbing test has an exercise on this. Just hang on a pullup bar, with no shakeouts or readjusting. Really focus on relaxing the shoulders and arms and let your skeleton carry all the weight.
5. Cross training. Many people think sport climbing is an endurance sport, but I see it more as a sprinting sport with rest in between. When the climbing is hard, be efficient, move quickly, and don’t fuck around resting or trying to shake out. When you find a good rest, milk it for what you can, and then sprint again. Many argue that running is good cross-training but I disagree, running is a steady-state exercise, and you will never find this is a sport climb. I find playing other sports will condition you much better; examples are ultimate frisbee (my favorite), soccer, basketball (be careful not to jam your fingers), etc.
6. Perfect the art of low-pointing. This is such a great technique that I feel nobody talks about. It's when you start trying to send the route from any point on the route that is NOT the bottom. For instance, if you have a 12-bolt route and the crux is at bolt 6, instead of working the route from the ground every time and falling at the crux pumped. Start first at bolt 6, do the crux, and take the rest of the route to the top. After doing that, try from bolt 5, see if you can do the crux a little more pumped, and then still take it to the top. By doing this, you are progressively making the crux a little harder with each attempt. This gives you more muscle memory on the crux, rather than just falling on the same move every attempt. Then when you can take low point from a good rest on the route (let's say bolt 3) you should have the confidence to start trying from the ground. Unlike bouldering, doing all the moves, or one hanging is no indication that you are close to sending. There have been routes where getting the one hang was only about a quarter of the way through the projecting process.

I hope this helps!