Beachbody – the global fitness brand behind Insanity and P90X – has announced that it is to axe Beachbody Live, its instructor training and group exercise provider arm.

In a short statement, Beachbody said: "The very difficult decision has recently been made to discontinue Beachbody LIVE operations effective March 1, 2020.

"We are incredibly proud of what our format experts, master trainers, instructors, and group fitness community have accomplished over the past eight years.

"Instructor trainings will continue to take place through 24 November 2019. No new trainings will be added beyond what is currently listed on the site.

"People will continue to be billed as normal through 31 December 2019. After this date, they will no longer be billed from Beachbody LIVE. However, those with PRO Team accounts will continue to have access to it through 1 March 2020.

"After the 1 March date, the Beachbody LIVE website and all of its content will be shut down.

"Instructors will not be able to access any of their materials, so we strongly advise them to download their materials before this date."

The announcement comes just days after Beachbody founder Jon Congdon revealed plans to launch a new digital health and fitness platform, called Openfit.

Openfit will offer certified, trainer-led live group fitness classes in tandem with personalised nutrition programming and wellness tracking.

Congdon – who founded Beachbody in 1998 and launched the beachbody Live service in 2011 – said he will lead Openfit as CEO.