Approximate energies for {ital excited} states of two- and three-body systems (with confining power law potentials) are obtained by a naive application of the variational method. The error in the excited state energies is similar to the error for ground state energies, less than 1%. The asymptotic form of the energy is obtained directly by semiclassical arguments: the form is correct but the leading coefficient has a small error. A classical variational principle, for the expectation value of the Hamiltonian, for periodic motion with constant action, is also discussed. Variational estimates are used to confirm and extend a negative result on nucleon resonances due to Hogaasen and Richard.