Get it Repaired; Caution with Core Muscles

Make sure you get your hernia repaired ASAP.

I had a hernia in high school. The bad news - I was in the worst pain of my life the week after getting the surgery. The good news - after 4 weeks I was back to playing football.

Use extra caution with weight lifting though ... You'll notice that you've lost a lot of strength in your core and that it hurts to stretch your core muscles too. You'll want to avoid squats, deads, pull-ups, etc, for a long time. For benching, I found that if I put my feet up on the bench, I was fine. Otherwise it was too much of a strain on my core.