On the 5th I had my gallbladder out and a hernia repaired. My surgeon said I can start lifting (light) and doing some core exercises this week or next. I am still sore on my right side where my incisions are so I am waiting another week to be safe. However, my coworker has had multiple hernia repairs and she said that that area will always be weak and at risk for herniating again. My surgeon didn't tell me this, but sometimes they don't think of some things.

Is it safe to do weight lifting and core exercises when you've had hernias? I love circuit/strength training and especially core work (since it's my strongest area, lol) and I will be crushed if I can't do that stuff.

Hi! I had a rather large umbilical hernia repaired at the same time of my bypass on Aug 15. My surgeon did say that I would be at a greater risk of a hernia in the future but that I should still be able to exercise. My program requires follow up appointments every 3 months including with a physical therapist. He had me start with just walking post op. I progressed to adding weight machines for stability with a low weight after a couple of weeks. About 3 months post op I moved on to free weights and now at 6 months I continue to be able to increase the weight I use during my strength training. I check in with my body a lot to make sure I'm not getting any tingling or burning sensations around my belly button (first indicator things are having too much tension) and I always wear a weight belt.

He did tell me that it would probably be smart to stay away from jerk & cleans and other rapid heavy-weight moves. But there's very little overall that I have to stay away from. I would highly recommend going slowly with increasing weight. The other thing is that it was 3 months before I was able to do any ab-focused exercises. It was really uncomfortable.