4 Things to Do When You Need to Relieve Stress Around DC

Sometimes, all that pent-up pressure just needs a release. Whether your catharsis of choice involves breaking an item or breaking out in song and dance, here are ways to loosen up.

Wreck Stuff in a Rage Room

Let your anger run amok at Kraken, a rage room stocked with bats and hammers so you can go to town on bottles and plates ($30 a person). Need to let off more steam? There’s also a $30-a-person axe-­throwing range.

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Get Down at a Dance Party

Get lost in the crowd–and the music–at the 9:30 Club, which regularly hosts dance parties paying homage to artists such as Taylor Swift. For throwback tunes, DJs at the Black Cat spin tracks from the ’80s and 2000s for alt-pop and indie-­sleaze nights.

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Throw Punches in a Boxing Gym

Socially acceptable fisticuffs are an excellent way to work out your demons while getting a workout. Practice some good old-fashioned pugilism at the boxing gyms Rumble, Nuboxx, and Downtown Boxing Club.

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Whack Golf Balls

The high-tech driving range Topgolf has climate-­controlled bays that stay warm in winter, starting at $18.50 an hour. Play on iconic courses such as Pebble Beach in golf simulators at City­Swing for $80 an hour.

This article appears in the December 2023 issue of Washingtonian.

Sometimes, all that pent-up pressure just needs a release. Whether your catharsis of choice involves breaking an item or breaking out in song and dance, here are ways to loosen up.

Back to Top

Wreck Stuff in a Rage Room

Let your anger run amok at Kraken, a rage room stocked with bats and hammers so you can go to town on bottles and plates ($30 a person). Need to let off more steam? There’s also a $30-a-person axe-­throwing range.

Back to Top

Get Down at a Dance Party

Get lost in the crowd–and the music–at the 9:30 Club, which regularly hosts dance parties paying homage to artists such as Taylor Swift. For throwback tunes, DJs at the Black Cat spin tracks from the ’80s and 2000s for alt-pop and indie-­sleaze nights.

Back to Top

Throw Punches in a Boxing Gym

Socially acceptable fisticuffs are an excellent way to work out your demons while getting a workout. Practice some good old-fashioned pugilism at the boxing gyms Rumble, Nuboxx, and Downtown Boxing Club.

Back to Top

Whack Golf Balls

The high-tech driving range Topgolf has climate-­controlled bays that stay warm in winter, starting at $18.50 an hour. Play on iconic courses such as Pebble Beach in golf simulators at City­Swing for $80 an hour.

This article appears in the December 2023 issue of Washingtonian.