Lü had his first international success at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics, where he was the bronze medallist in the 10,000 metres race walk behind Russian Vladimir Kanaykin and fellow Chinese Xu Xingde.

[3] He was sixth against an international field at the Grande Prémio Internacional de Rio Maior em Marcha Atlética and set a new best in the 50 kilometres race walk at 3:45:05 hours.

[4] This built up to his selection for the 2005 Asian Athletics Championships where he defeated South Korea's Kim Hyun-sub to take the gold medal.

The Chinese men's team fared even worse than two years earlier as Lü was the second highest finisher, after Han Yucheng in 22nd.

After a time of 1:22:16 hours in Jinan in 2009, he ceased competing at a high level.