I was a 4 stepper for years until finally changing to 5 late last year.  5 step feels much better and for me, helps with timing a lot. 
I think that using the pushaway actually uses more muscle than hinge because the hinge is just a drop into the swing.  You need to use a little muscle to push the ball forward, depending on how you push away (lay on the table, or over the bar). 

You may have to start your pushaway a tad bit earlier to keep your timing (or later) depending on what your problem is.  You may also be pushing away to your left or right without even realizing it.  Have someone stand behind you and watch your pushaway direction and also where your arm goes in your swing.  Have them take a video so you can analyze it yourself. 

No right or wrong answer for this, everyone uses what works for them.  Try the push away method, but when you "push", keep it in line with your swing line.  If you push right, you might swing behind your back.  Left, and you may go out in the back swing and end up throwing across to the left, unless you do a figure 8 swing. 

I use to push the ball out and away and went to a more hinged release. It felt weird at first. It felt like i lost all of my momentum with my arm swing and therefore wanted to muscle the ball to get passed it. Once I got it right in my timing the momentum of my body got me back to feeling good in ball speed without muscling the ball.

I use a five step approach.

This is my last video where you can see the timing with the arm and the rest of the body.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIr2qDPb_k4

A really nice video kid. I really liked it and even saw a couple things I want to try as soon as I can get back on the lanes.

Thanks it took a lot of work from where I used to be. I got online coaching through HYBC. My local options in AR weren't what I was looking for. For the price and convince id highly recommend contacting justrico on here to get more information.

In terms of starting position with your arm joker-1 i think you have to try playing around with it to find whats comfortable and still allows you to execute properly.