I took life drawing classes in college and while I FUCKING HATED THEM UGH they definitely did help with my anatomy skills overall.
Remember - and this is a mistake I see a lot of starting artists make when they want to learn anatomy - drawing people isn't about getting the exact measurements of arms, legs, etc. and getting all the muscle detail in, etc. I see a lot of starting artists just doing front-poses off model sheets and such, but never anything else. Drawing people isn't just about structure, it's about movement.
When you draw people, you're still allowed to have your own style. You just need to learn how to apply what you've learned in say, life drawing classes, to your own work so that your characters follow movement rules and body proportions, but don't look rigid and stiff from trying to draw the anatomy on point.
I don't know if what I'm saying makes any sense :U
Remember, drawing anatomy =/= drawing people. Sounds weird, right? Rather, when you draw anatomy, you're learning where certain muscles are located, the distances between limbs and facial features, how the limbs work and all the directions they can go in, and the ones they can't, etc. When you draw people though, you're drawing emotions. You're drawing personality. Atittude. All those things that separate a human from just a body. Gesture drawing helps you learn how to capture emotion and movement and flow and all those things that capture more than just drawing a body on a model sheet.
Take life drawing classes, or go sit out in the park and draw the people walking by, or use photo references. Learn how to capture movement and personality. Combine the things you learn about anatomy with the things you learn about life. Like real, physical life in action, which we see every day and pay no attention to as we walk down the street.
And there you have it. Life drawing.