Just wanted to share a testomonial of something that has worked for me. This might be some "no kidding" info for some...but bear with me..
I've added very small amounts of weight to my incline squat each week and those small amounts have added up to ALOT of muscle gain in my quads and hamstrings...Which is important to me, I do alot of road races and bialthons and the stronger more dense leg muscle helps in that regard.

I started squating 155 pounds...( I weigh 142lb)...10 reps for 3 sets=30 reps

The next week I added a mere 5 pounds which for 30 reps is 150 pounds more work than the previous week.

Now, onto week 4, my legs are lifting 450 more total pounds per workout and it hasn't even seemed the resistance has changed....Sure, it's a bit tougher, but my form has stayed in tact by avoiding slapping on too much weight too fast. Important for us thin endurance lifting newbies.

Point of the story, small gains can add up to huge dividends with consistency.

I've been all but stalling and treading water for the last 5+ years, so small gains to me are very notable. In the past 6 years I've put about 30 lbs on my bench ha! Of course in the past year I've put on about 20 or more. My problem was not applying myself enough over the years, but you're right a small gain is good, because it means that you're growing, and that's even better than not shrinking :D

Small increases in weight are a big deal! Even if you're using the 2 1/2 plates I think this is beneficial. I try to add weight each workout. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't, depends on how many reps I got last week.

I work the same way, and I'll often add 20 lbs over 6 weeks or so. That's pretty good if you think about it!

Agreed.

I tend to up my bench by five pounds every 2-3 weeks. If I hit 10 reps the previous week, I up the weight.