Thank you my friend! And I typically try to meter for the midtones to get the most even exposure possible. Although metering for the shadows is not a bad idea either because you can always bring back the highlights!
Think of pushing film as a team effort. You do your part as the photographer to overexpose the film to your desired level of exposure. You then let your lab know how much you overexposed your film and then in the development process it is pushed. But you as the photographer 100% play a role in pushing the film by overexposing it. Cheers!