During the fight with Elise it doesn't matter how high my brawn is, the gauge doesn't increase. The highest (armor included) is at least 17.
With the clutchmates there is a bit of a difference, but it didn't change the outcome. By this point by including armor collected I had at least 30 brawn.
So I don't know if the stat is low for these points in the story or if the requirments for completing that particular QTE are just ridiculously high.