Correct. I was referring to what the athlete should be thinking about. The proper position has be worked out with the help of the coach. But this isn’t something you can think about while actually running.
could someone explain a little more about flicking the hand at the start
It’s the hand that comes forward at the start. For example, if you’re right footed, you will probably have you left foot in the front block and the right foot in the back block in the set position. From this position, the left hand is going to come forward and the right hand backward when you start. In this position the only thing you have to think about when the gun goes off is flicking the left hand forward, and everything else happens automatically. It’s that simple. If your set position is reversed, you obviously would flick the right hand forward. Don’t think about driving off the blocks or driving the other hand backward or anything else. Just flick the lead hand.
One thing to add to what Flash explained, concentrating on flicking of the wrist up will allow the chest to come up more. If you can flick the wrist, you know you got full extension out of that lead arm.
dlive11: I’m not sure I follow the idea of the lead arm extension. Can you post a photo to illustrate your point?
Charlie,
To clarify what I said, it is not to extend the arm straight, just to get it out. (sorry for the wrong terminology). Mainly, how you demonstrated at the clinic. It seems to me that if you focus on driving the back arm back and dont focus on the front arm, the hand will not “flick”.
Brad,
One note of caution. Do you remember when I was doing the start reaction drill with Charlie? I was deliberatley powering the lead hand up. Charlie told me to forget about power and just flick it quickly and relaxed, and my reaction speed improved dramatically. Derek also noted how stark the difference was.
Flash,
I am not saying to force the lead arm up, it would slow the arm to force this. I was simply describing the action of the arm. I understand that if you do force that arm up, tightness will prevent the hand to flick as we are describing.
Sorry, I misunderstood you 
That is cool my man! I sometimes forget to be carefull with my wording. I get lazy, (it is contagious from the Saint). Thanks for keeping me straight though!
Hi,
I have a quick question about the flicking of the wrist. You ONLY flick the lead wrist? You dont flick the both wrists (the lead wrist forward and the other one backward)? Or would flicking the other one backward cause your are to tense up too much?
Great, thanks. Thats what I thought but I wanted to make sure.
You dont want to over-complicate the issue to where you are thinking in the blocks. Just think about moving your hands from the line quickly.
Hey guys, I have a race on Monday.
Regarding the wrist flick, is it very important to focus on flicking the wrist up only (rather than think about flicking the wrist and then immediately pumping the arms?)
I recently realised that for my first few steps my traps automatically raise somewhat (I think to shorten the lever to make up for the first few steps which are short?)
Hi all…i tried that flick technique in training! Boy what a difference it made…This season i’ve run a mediocre 7.1 over the 60 with the faster boys running 6.8…when doing block starts the other night i was blazin the 6.8 and 6.9 boys! This has given me great confidence! Great website!keep up the good work…
Good Job! Charlie’s methods are proven over and over! Keep us posted how it continues.
Brad, a cue I have thought of is ‘flick the wrist up past the head’. I found when I was just concentrating on flicking as quick as possible I would cut off the arm action early (start pumping the arms) and not get full extension from the blocks.