A within-subject, repeated-measures, randomised crossover design was used with three intervention conditions. Each condition was separated by at least one week to prevent potential carry-over effects on corticomotoneuronal excitability [28] and a random number generator was used to determine the order of testing sessions. All testing occurred in the afternoon to account for diurnal variations in cortisol [29]. At each test session, baseline measures of cortical excitability were recorded using TMS. Following this, measures were taken immediately post exercise/rest ± intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS, described below), and every 10 minutes for a total of 30 minutes. In conditions that involved use of iTBS, measures were taken postexercise/rest condition, and pre application of iTBS. See Fig 1 for timeline of experiments.