Updating My Breaststroke Technique

I am 54 years old. I swam for a club team from ages 9-18, 1967-1976. Although I swam for exercise here and there over the years, I didn't compete again until very recently. This was spurred on by the fact that I had allowed myself to get bloated and out of shape, and had a bit of health scare (“pre” diabetic), which was a wakeup call. I entered a non-sanctioned masters meet in July and surprised myself by doing quite well. I trained 3 days a week for six or seven weeks...just 1/2 mile on two days and a mile on the 3rd day, and doing intervals (200 warmup, 5x100's, 5x50's, etc.), plus some land training. I had a time of 31.66 (30.5 in the relay split) in the 50 METER free (I did low 28's when I was 18), and 39.42 in the 50 meter *** (compared to mid 36's when I was 18). However, I noticed that the way today's swimmers do breaststroke is completely different than my old-fashioned flat style. The world record times in the 100 have gone from about 1:05 in 1976 to ~58 today, so the newer techniques must be better (not to mention better conditioning, which is a given). Two things I have noticed...today's breaststrokers seem to go completely underwater on the glide, then pull themselves way out of the water on the outsweep. I also notice that some swimmers, like Amanda Beard, seem to throw their hands out over the surface of the water on the recovery phase, which looks very unnatural (and in the old days, I am pretty sure was illegal). My question...is it too much of a revolution for me to learn the new methods or should I give it a shot? Any suggestions for how to perfect it? By the way, I also know about the single dolphin kick, but I've already decided that is not going to work for me.