Joy Anna Duggar doesn’t get as much attention as her four older sisters, but Jessa Seewald recently found a unique way to shine a spotlight on the 17-year-old 19 Kids and Counting star.
According to E! News , Joy Anna Duggar just became the star of Jessa’s latest Instagram video. The Duggar daughters recently hit the weight room, and Joy Anna impressed her older sister by squatting the equivalent of three Josie Duggars. The Inquisitr previously reported that the Duggar family enjoyed a buffet-style Christmas dinner over the holidays, so maybe Joy Anna was trying to work off some of that tater tot casserole.
“Joy was tearin’ it up in the workout room today!” Jessa captioned on Instagram the video. “She beat her previous record by parallel squatting 145 pounds!! Keep it up, little sis!”
You can check out Joy Anna Duggar’s workout attire below, and you can see the video of her new squat record here on Jessa’s Instagram .
As you can see, Joy Anna’s workout wear is a tad unusual — no yoga pants or comfy shorts for her. Duggar girls are expected to wear long skirts that cover up their knees, but it definitely wouldn’t be ladylike to squat in a skirt alone. To preserve her modesty, Joy Anna paired her skirt with a pair of black workout pants. She also kept her arms covered up with a baggy cardigan.
In a TLC post, Michelle Duggar explained why Joy Anna and her other daughters are expected to keep covered up, even when they’re being active.
“We felt like we needed to be covered from our neck to below our knees mainly because God talks about the thigh being uncovered, and how that’s nakedness and shame. And so in our dress — whether we’re doing activities that require us to climb, ride a horse, bike, swim, whatever — we just want to keep the thighs and torso covered; we don’t want to play peekaboo so that there’s a visual element that might defraud someone.”
She went on to explain the Duggar definition of the word “defraud.”
“For us the definition of the word defrauding is to stir up desires in someone else that cannot be righteously fulfilled.”
This is why Joy Anna Duggar gets so covered up at the gym — if she wore something that could reveal even a tiny slither of skin, she’d have to spend her entire workout worrying about suffering a wardrobe malfunction that might “stir up desires in someone else.”
Luckily for Joy Anna, Jessa and Ben Seewald have started their own 19 Kids and Counting workout club where members don’t have to worry about seeing shirtless guys and women in short shorts and sports bras. The Duggars set up their own home gym in a storage shed near their house, and it looks like this is where Joy Anna does her squats. During an interview with People , Ben Seewald talked about how he and Jessa work out with other Duggars.
“We do a lot of weight lifting and cardio together, trying to stay fit. Some of the other kids, like Joy and Jason, sometimes join in. We have a little workout club going.”
Do you think you would be able to work out in a skirt and pants like Joy Anna Duggar does?
[Image credit: Jessa Seewald /Instagram]