Lifting and hernias

Hi there, I’ve followed barbell medicine quietly for a while and thought I’d pick your brains about something.

I’ve recently been diagnosed with two inguinal hernias (felt it after warming up for squats a couple of months ago)

I’ve been told I can continue to train until the surgery if I don’t feel pain in the area. I’ve given up squats and deadlifts since feeling the twinge but have continued to bench press/do general upper body movements.

Is it best to cut out all weight lifting until surgery? It will likely be within a year but a year of no lifting will be very hard!

My second question is, assuming the surgery goes well and I can return to training. Do you have any tips to prevent this happening in future? For example any exercises I should include in my workouts.

I’m a 30 year old male and do powerlifting type exercises between 4-6 times a week.

Many thanks!
Yousef

If you feel fine doing upper body movements, I don’t see what benefit there is to cutting that out.

As for your second question, there aren’t any specific exercises you can do to influence the risk here for the future.