Does it help to learn statistical mechanics or thermodynamics (as in physics or mathematical physics) in order to learn thermodynamic formalism: the study of equilibrium states, Gibbs measure, maximal measures mostly on shift spaces or ℤⁿ?

I've not taken a course on thermodynamics, but so far my learning of the concept of Gibbs states, pressures, equilibrium states on shift spaces seems to be going fine. But then maybe I'm missing physical intuitions that may be necessary later.