The reason for the 1" foam earplug is that
the stress on your arm muscles is greatest at the lowest point (because the diamond is under your nose instead of the solar plexus) so the difference in force required to prevent falling your face between 1" (earplug) and 2" (standard winecork) is exponentially greater . Hence putting the diamond directly under your nose ( instead of the solar plexus) AND stopping and reversing 1" from the floor makes it the most difficult of all pushups. Most people experience complete loss of arm muscle control at about 2 to 3 " from the floor , so 1" is , generally , not possible for most without "getting down on the floor" .
Consequently, the normal reaction of most people attempting it is to stop at the point when they are
approaching their "threshhold" to avoid "getting down on the floor". Unfortunately, this contitutes
"CHEATING" when executing the "challenge". I came up with the 1" earplug idea to make it impossible to 'cheat'. If you can pick it up with your lips, you are within 1" of the floor , which meets the Marine Drill Instructor criteria for the diamond pushup. If you can't pick it up, then you can't do it. It's a simple
PASS/FAIL criteria. Only 1 out of 10 people who can pick up a winecork can pick up the earplug. That's
how much of a difference that last inch makes. I have demonstrated this pushup to young policemen and firemen I encountered in the line at Jamba Juice and they all said that they don't do that exercise in
their training. I have never found any other Youtube videos of anyone doing that version of the diamond pushup. They all have the diamond under the solar plexus.
You are one of only a handful of people out of maybe 40 , who had the courage to even try. Most won't even attempt it. A young (early 30's) female coworker who is half my weight and half my age scoffed at the "challenge" for 4 months until one day there were three people talking about it and she said "I can do it" . We all replied " talk is cheap" so she got down on floor and tried and wound up "getting down on the floor".
It's no joke. If you can do just one, your "good".