Shaolin felt that it need to be it's own protection and with outside help they developed the first full blown martial art system. It was based around 72 Combinations that could be used individually or strung together against multiple opponents and circumstances. Although it was not just based on fists but included defence, kicks and open hands techniques, it was based on applying a finishing technique that incapacitated most opponents.
Shaolin still did not attack and thus needed to have a good defence. But one attacked they had multiple solutions that could be used against single opponents or in concert against multiple attackers. Each technique had a key tactic. together these techniques were devastating.
The Shaolin Academy has also included the learning of the 36 Stratagems, one of the great 7 books of China on Conflict and Strategy into the 72 Fist Curriculum!
Where 72 Fists sought to make a quick finish to a conflict, 170 Moves seeks to "Hold & Control" an attacker, stopping them from doing any harm to themselves or others. As this can usually only be done with one person at a time, the 72 Fist Kung Fu was still very much needed for multiple opponents. So 170 moves is a joining of a Striking Style and a Holding Style!
This was so successful that it became very, very effective. So much so that it lasted well into the 2nd Millennium.
Shaolin spend several hours each day on physical training, 6 days a week, most days each year, most years of their lives! A Shaolin student training 3 to hours a day for just five years would have trained the equivalent of a person training 30 years, 3 times a week for 1½ each session. They did this though throughout their lives as Kung Fu was not just for self defence but for Health and Well Being. Even Shaolin needed variety to maintain this. And you needed to know the possibilities and limits of a Weapon to understand how to defend against it.
Shaolin would have trained a variety of different weapons to represent the many, many different weapons being used. There would have been the usual Staff, Broad Sword, Spear and Straight Sword. But they would also needed skills in weapon throwing (knife, star, spear), Flexible weapons (chain, rope, whip), hidden weapons and 'not weapons', items that are normally not weapons that could be used as weapons!
It is in this spirit and for the fun of it, that the Shaolin Academy trains in traditional Chinese Weaponry!