Playing is always going to be the best way to improve. You have to be able to put a lot of the things you study into practice to actually see results. And, results are always long term. Meaning for example you might have the rank 5kyu but the strength of a 2kyu and not even know it because you might still lose to 5kyu and say “oh I am still 5k I guess” but in reality you have to be able to play consistently to see the results. So I encourage playing as often as you can along side studying. Don’t expect that everything you learn from tsumego and books to start showing up in your game after only 100 games expect to see results as the games go into the 100s and 200s and so on.
Most high ranking players and professionals seem to practice the most by playing fast games (i.e 1:00 main time with 3 periods 15 seconds byo-yomi) This way they get in as many games as possible and they even review there games.