A Shove-it or Varial rotation is regarded as a 180 degree spin (instead of a flip) of the board. Which direction it spins is usually described in the name, such as Frontside or Backside. When called just a Shove-It, it is assumed it is only a Varial 180 degree Shove-It. If it is any higher in degrees, it is stated. For example, a 360 Shove-It must have the 360 stated or it should be assumed to only be 180 degrees of spin.
The Shove-it was always a Freestyle trick as was every other skateboarding trick used in Streetstyle skateboarding. It was done with the front foot facing forward towards the nose, on the nose of the board and your back foot would be used to throw the board. In today's modern Streetstyle skateboarding, the Shove-It is either done Frontside or Backside and the point of action originates from the tail of the board. Only when the rider pushes down and forward or down and backward can the board spin 180 degrees Frontside or Backside. The back foot begins the trick and the front foot either assists in the spin by influencing the board or just jumps if the back foot influenced it enough. In the Shove-It done off the nose, this is done in reverse. The front foot assumes the role of the back foot in that it pushes down and initiates the action, and the back foot either jumps or assists in the spin. It can be done both Frontside and Backside from this way. This is considered the Freestyle and pre Streetstyle era Shove-It. Contrary to popular belief, Frontside or Backside of any kind of Shove-It is not harder than the other if you learn both at the same time. Learning one and not the other may give you the illusion that it is hard to do the other. This would not make sense because another skateboarder may find the harder version easier and your version harder provided he/she learned the opposite Shove-It first. This also applies to the Ollie Kickflip and the Ollie Heelflip. For one who has learned the Ollie Kickflip before the Ollie Heelflip, it may seem harder, same applies vice versa.