Do you realise the amount of dmg hitting a tree or rock would do to your blade irl? That is a bad thing to do. I mean if thats the way you want to go im all for it but it should totally wreck your weapon in 4-5 hits. Thats why most warriors trained with training weapons. you could try to get that sort of thing in the game.
As for stamina even though i bought the game a while ago i too have only recently started playing it so i couldn't comment on that.